CME Group to launch nature-based global emission offset futures

Planting trees, agriculture projects or protecting forests all qualify

U.S. exchange operator CME Group will launch a nature-based global emissions offset futures contract on Aug. 1 to help bring more transparency to the growing global voluntary carbon offset market, it said June 21. Nature-based offsets can be generated through schemes such as planting trees, agriculture projects or protecting forests that would otherwise be destroyed.

CME August 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines) and August 2021 live cattle (dark red open/high/low/close). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures rally as China buys pork

Cattle futures, beef cutout values lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures rose three per cent on Monday, supported by rising demand as China moved to buy pork for its reserves to shore up the domestic market, traders said. China’s state planner said on Monday that central and local governments will start buying pork for state reserves to



Winter rapeseed production in France is likely to fall below three million tonnes for the first time in 20 years.

France sees rebound in winter barley crop, rapeseed at 20-year low

Winter barley production in France is expected to rebound sharply this year on the back of above-average yields, but the rapeseed crop is seen shrinking to a 20-year low after a decline in area, the Farm Ministry said recently. In its first production forecasts for 2021, the ministry projected the winter barley crop at 7.74


Global food import costs to surge

Global food import costs to surge

A double-digit surge is expected this year, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says

Global food import costs are expected to rise 12 per cent in 2021 to a record due to surging commodity prices and robust demand during the COVID-19 crisis, the United Nations food agency said. The world’s food import bill, including shipping costs, is projected to reach $1.715 trillion this year, from US$1.530 trillion in 2020,

Strategie Grains raises EU 2021-22 wheat crop, export forecasts

Consultancy Strategie Grains has raised its monthly forecast for the 2021 soft wheat harvest and exports from the European Union next season due to improved competitiveness on the world market but lowered them for the current season. It also lifted its EU 2021 barley and maize crop outlook, supported by good weather conditions. “Since last


A view of BHP’s potash mine project north of Jansen, Sask. (BHP.com)

BHP delaying decision on Saskatchewan potash project

Jansen mine decision to be delayed by a few months

Melbourne | Reuters — BHP Group expects to present its board with a decision on whether to proceed with its Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan in a few months’ time — rather than mid-year — after choosing between two port options, an executive said on Thursday. The world’s biggest miner has estimated the project at

EU wheat eases as U.S. crop conditions cool corn rally

Euronext wheat reversed from a two-week high to end lower on June 3 as better-than-expected conditions for U.S. corn crops tempered weather worries that had sparked a grain rally in the previous session. Forecasts of hot, dry weather in North America in the next two weeks, along with reduced estimates of Brazil’s upcoming corn harvest,


The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. ag secretary backs proposed meatpacking investigator

Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday threw his support behind a proposal to establish a special investigator to address concerns about anti-competitive practices in the meat and poultry industries. Republican U.S. Senators Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana have proposed legislation

France sees no easy fix for sugar beet disease without neonicotinoids

None of the alternatives to neonicotinoids for protecting sugar beet crops works well enough on its own, France’s health agency ANSES said June 2, as the country looks for ways to do without the chemical seen as harmful to bees. France suspended its ban on the use of neonicotinoids on sugar beet crops until 2023