Argentine port workers ended a four-day-old strike on Thursday, their labour union said, setting the stage for resumption of crucial soy and corn exports from the South American grains powerhouse. “We just signed a deal,” said Edgardo Quiroga, an official with the CGT labor union representing the workers. “We are going to call a meeting [...]

U.S. soybean prices rose for a sixth consecutive session on Thursday and struck an eight-month high as the dwindling cash supply left from the drought-plagued 2012 harvest sparked commercial buying in futures. Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures leaped more than two per cent, advancing for the second day in a row, with a [...]

Winnipeg grain storage and handling equipment maker Westeel plans to offer customers worldwide a “more comprehensive” product line by buying further into the grain conveyor business. Westeel, the grain and liquid storage products arm of Oakville, Ont.-based Vicwest Inc., recently announced it has bought PTM Technology, an Italian designer and manufacturer of automated grain handling [...]

Total U.S. farmland under drought edged lower over the week ending May 21, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s Thursday update. During that week, the area ranked as having no drought impact at all moved from 38.3 to 39.1 per cent, as a result of heavy rain over the northern Plains and Midwest, according to [...]

A bacteria-like pest of apple trees across Europe has appeared for the first time in North America in an orchard now under federal quarantine in Nova Scotia. Apple proliferation phytoplasma (APP), a yield-reducing quarantine pest in both Canada and the U.S., has been confirmed in Pacific Gala apple trees in the orchard near Kentville after [...]

Old-crop soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade moved higher during the week ended Wednesday (May 22), as tight supplies provided underlying support. New-crop soybeans lagged to the upside, while rapid seeding progress across the Midwest caused corn to post small losses in the deferred months. The spread between the old- and [...]

Cash wheat bids across Western Canada saw some mixed activity during the week ended Tuesday, with a steady to firmer tone in Canada Western red spring (CWRS) wheat, but losses in Canada Prairie red spring (CPRS). Average spot bids for 13.5 per cent-protein CWRS across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in on Tuesday at around [...]

Russia’s Uralkali OAO would delay two of its potash mine expansion projects for as long as a decade if rival BHP Billiton builds the world’s biggest mine of the crop nutrient, Uralkali’s chief executive said in an interview. Uralkali is aiming to become the largest global producer of potash by 2021, leapfrogging Canada’s PotashCorp in [...]

Scores of grain ships were delayed in and around Argentina on Wednesday due to a three-day-old strike by port workers that threatens to bog down exports at a time of heightened world demand for South American soy and corn, sources said. Negotiations aimed at ending the work stoppage in the main grains hub of Rosario [...]