Shanghai’s Pudong business district, shown here, is home to COFCO Agri’s Chinese trading office. (CIA.gov)

China’s COFCO to open Canadian grain office by autumn

Winnipeg | Reuters — China’s COFCO Agri will open a Canadian crop trading office in Winnipeg by the time farmers harvest their new crops, the state-owned agricultural trader said Tuesday. The new office, which Reuters reported earlier this month, will focus on trading canola and its processed products oil and meal, as well as wheat, […] Read more

Winnipeg has long been a centre of the Prairie grain trade, having hosted the headquarters of past and present grain handlers and traders and the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (now ICE Futures Canada). (Canadian Wheat Board photo)

China’s COFCO Agri hiring grain traders, opening Winnipeg office

Winnipeg | Reuters –– Chinese state-owned agricultural trader COFCO Agri is opening a trading office in the Canadian grain hub of Winnipeg, adding to the aggressive expansion of its North American agriculture business. COFCO Agri is hiring three grain traders and an operations manager to expand export and domestic trading, according to the company’s postings […] Read more


CentrePort’s attractiveness lies partly in its access to multiple rail carriers, as Paterson Grain’s terminal northwest of Winnipeg already has. (Dave Bedard photo)

Toronto grain firm’s elevator to anchor Winnipeg rail park

Toronto grain trading firm BroadGrain Commodities aims to build some Prairie handling muscle with a new grain terminal and bean plant in Winnipeg’s planned CentrePort rail park. The company, which already operates a pair of elevators in southwestern and eastern Ontario and took over Saskatchewan pulse and special crop processor Lakeside Global Grains in 2011, […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Parmalat gets GF2 funds for new Winnipeg milk plant

Dairy giant Parmalat is set to get federal and Manitoba government funding toward its planned new $50 million milk plant in Winnipeg. The two levels of government on Tuesday pledged $2.5 million toward the construction of Parmalat’s new dairy plant at an industrial park in the city’s St. Boniface area, about seven km east of […] Read more


Producers are seeing poor returns when growing cereals, especially spring wheat, when compared with alternative crops.  Photo: File

Cereals North America: W. Canada to see marketing shifts

Winnipeg/Commodity News Service Canada – Crops in Western Canada saw a range of weather conditions this year, resulting in lower production and higher protein. That means there will be a marketing shift next year, according to Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist with G3 Canada (formerly CWB), speaking at a Cereals North America conference in […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Parmalat getting land to expand Winnipeg milk plant

Dairy giant Parmalat plans to expand its Winnipeg milk operations and has been cleared to buy the acres to do so. While the Italian company’s Toronto-based Canadian arm has so far been quiet about its plans, Winnipeg’s city council on Wednesday voted to approve the sale of about 15 acres to Parmalat just south of […] Read more