Articles by Colin Packham | Manitoba Co-operator

Cotton latest casualty in China-Australia spat

Australian barley, cotton and wine producers are now all under the gun

By Colin Packham, Dominique Patton 7 hours ago

In the latest round of a China-Australia spat side-swiping agricultural trade, China has ordered cotton mills to stop buying Australian supplies. That word came Oct. 16 from an Australian government source and two China-based cotton traders briefed on the matter. Relations soured after Canberra accused China of meddling in domestic affairs, and worsened when Prime Minister Scott

Markets

Australia lowers barley export forecast after China tariff

By Colin Packham September 28, 2020

Reuters – Australia has lowered its forecast for barley exports during the 2020-21 season by around six per cent after China imposed a tariff that effectively ended the billion-dollar trade between them. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) said barley exports during the 2020-21 season will total 6.155 million tonnes,

Crops, Markets

China ban turns Australian barley growers toward domestic market

Growers may shift to alternative crops next season

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News September 3, 2020

Sydney | Reuters — Australian farmers will be forced to sell their barley supplies to the domestic livestock industry or cheaper international markets after China effectively banned imports from Australia, farmers said on Wednesday. China late on Tuesday said it would ban barley imports from Australia’s largest grain exporter, just weeks after it slapped a

Markets, News

Australia to subsidize air freight

Aim it to unfreeze agri-exports shut down by virus

By Colin Packham May 20, 2020

Australia’s government will spend A$110 million (C$95 million) to subsidize air freight for exports of agricultural products after flights were severely disrupted due to the global coronavirus pandemic. About 90 per cent of Australian air freight is usually transported in planes carrying tourists. But with scores of countries closing their borders to stop the spread

Crops, Markets

China hits Australia with barley tariff

Duty to last for five years; China may turn to Canada, other exporters

By Colin Packham, Dominique Patton, GFM Network News May 19, 2020

Beijing/Sydney | Reuters — China added to tensions with Australia on Monday by announcing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties totalling 80.5 per cent on Australian barley imports from Tuesday (May 19), which is expected to all but halt a billion-dollar trade between them. China’s ministry of commerce said it had confirmed dumping by Australia and significant

A field is sprinkled with the remnants of cotton after a harvest in Trangie, Australia, September 4, 2019. Drought is weighing on economic growth, and the dire conditions have prompted Australia, a major wheat exporter, to import the grain for the first time in 12 years.

News, Weather

Australia offers drought-ravaged farmers cheap loans

Farm businesses will have access of up to $500,000, interest free for the first two years

By Colin Packham November 19, 2019

Australia will offer farmers hurt by drought up to A$1 billion in cheap loans, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Nov. 6, as the government seeks to curb rising discontent from rural voters. Farmers across Australia’s east coast have been battling drought conditions for more than three years, wilting agricultural production and leaving some towns on

Crops, Weather

Australia cuts wheat forecast by 11 per cent

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News, Reuters June 12, 2019

Sydney | Reuters — Australia on Wednesday cut its wheat production forecast for the 2019-20 harvest by more than 11 per cent as an unrelenting drought across the country’s east coast threatens crops for a third year in a row. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) pegged production of the

Crops, Weather

Australia to import first wheat in 12 years as drought bites

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News May 15, 2019

Sydney | Reuters — Australia will import its first shipment of wheat in more than a decade as a drought across the country’s east coast wilts supply in the world’s fourth largest exporter of the staple grain. Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources said late on Tuesday that it has approved an import permit

Livestock

Australian lawmaker pushes to end live sheep exports

By Colin Packham, GFM Network News May 21, 2018

Sydney | Reuters — An Australian backbencher on Monday introduced legislation to parliament to ban the export of live sheep after the death of 2,400 animals led to widespread criticism of the A$250 million (C$241.96 million) industry. The bill threatens to expose fractures within the ruling coalition government, which last week introduced tougher oversight of

Sheep shearers are a hot commodity in Australia right now as producers try to capitalize on higher wool prices after a generations-long slump.

International news, Livestock

Falling off the sheep’s back: Why Australia can’t capitalize on record wool prices

A long-awaited surge in wool prices has met a shortage in key personnel and a low sheep count

By Colin Packham, Jonathan Barrett April 3, 2018

Sheep farmers in rural Australia waited more than half a century for wool prices to come roaring back, only to find there aren’t enough shearers to trim their golden fleeces. “Once upon a time you could go down to the local pub and arrange for some fellas to come in and start almost immediately —

U.S. livestock: Hog futures fall for third day in a row

Feed weekly outlook: Feedlots booking for winter underpin bids

U.S. grains: Soy futures firm to highest since 2016

GFM Network News