Covantis developers said they met with industry stakeholders in Brazil in October to discuss how their system would apply in soybean traffic between Brazil and China. (Covantis.io)

Major grain traders’ e-transaction platform gets name

The blockchain-based global commodity transaction platform being developed by six of the world’s biggest agrifood firms is moving ahead with a new name and project leader. The six companies — ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, Cofco and Glencore Agriculture — announced Wednesday the project will be named Covantis, and have hired former ADM executive Stefano

A cargo ship is loaded with Brazilian soybeans bound for China. (Photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker)

Trump, citing U.S. farmers, slaps metal tariffs on Brazil, Argentina

Washington/Rio de Janeiro | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump ambushed Brazil and Argentina on Monday, announcing tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports from the two countries in a measure that shocked South American officials and left them scrambling for answers. In an early morning tweet, Trump said the tariffs, “effective immediately,” were necessary



CBOT January 2020 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy futures fall to two-month low

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures slid to a two-month low on Wednesday on technical selling and expectations that increased rains will benefit crops in rival shipper South America. Corn and wheat futures also fell as traders adjusted positions ahead of Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, when U.S. markets will close. The markets will reopen for





Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil on Aug. 14, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Brazil Amazon deforestation soars to 11-year high

Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil | Reuters — Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose to its highest in over a decade this year, government data on Monday showed, confirming a sharp increase under the leadership of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. The data from Brazil’s INPE space research agency, which showed deforestation soaring 29.5 per cent

A man works next to a truck unloading second corn (winter corn) near Sorriso 
in the Mato Grosso state, Brazil.

Lack of rain puts Brazil corn crop at risk

Soy planting delays will mean a very tight window to plant ‘second corn’

Reuters – Delays in Brazil’s soybean planting due to scarce rainfall may affect sowing of the country’s second corn crop, which is planted after the oilseed is harvested and represents about 73 per cent of the South American output. “There is a lot of risk for the (corn) crop,” Antonio Galvan, head of the Mato Grosso state grain growers’ association,



Photo: Thinkstock

Brazil farmers push traders to end Amazon soy moratorium

Sao Paulo | Reuters – Brazilian farmers plan to start a campaign next week to end a ban by trading firms on buying soybeans from parts of the Amazon rainforest cleared after 2008, leaders from a major farmer group told Reuters, citing support from President Jair Bolsonaro. The push to end traders’ voluntary “soy moratorium” — one