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Pulse weekly outlook: Pandemic may pose market opportunity

MarketsFarm — Plant protein products were steadily rising in popularity before the COVID-19 pandemic set in — but that industry could also get a boost from consumers shifting away from meat in a post-pandemic world. “There’s an increased level of awareness of hygiene issues in the meat industry,” Vishal Vijay, head of business development at

An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Mexico to stop sending workers to Canadian farms hit by COVID-19

Assurances of worker safety sought, FARMS says

Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico will stop sending temporary workers to Canadian farms that have registered a coronavirus outbreak and that do not have proper worker protections, Mexico’s labour ministry said on Tuesday, although it will not completely suspend the program. The decision came after a coronavirus outbreak in Ontario hit at least 17


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CERB plan, U.S. border closure both extended

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will extend by eight weeks federal income support for those who lost their jobs amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and the border with the United States will remain closed to non-essential travel, the prime minister said on Tuesday. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which delivers $500 per week to those



CBOT July 2020 soybeans with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans fall on crop development

Wheat lifts on short-covering

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures slid on Monday on reports of healthy crop development across much of the U.S. Midwest, as concerns about a potential bumper crop cooled market enthusiasm over recent strong Chinese demand. Private exporters reported the sale of 390,000 tonnes of soybeans to China for delivery in the 2020-21 marketing



Coolant shortage a side-effect of coronavirus

Fuel demand crash shuts U.S. ethanol plants, so meat packers lack refrigerant

Reuters – Meat packers are being hit with an unexpected side-effect of coronavirus dampening fuel demand. A slew of U.S. ethanol plants have shut down, and meat packers have been hit by a worrying side-effect: less carbon dioxide is now available to chill beef, poultry and pork. “We’re headed for a train wreck in terms of the CO2

CME August 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures touch one-month low

Improving production pressures hog futures

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures dropped to their lowest price in more than a month on Friday, weighed down by expectations for increasing meat production. Beef output has improved as slaughterhouses have resumed operations after closing temporarily in April and May due to outbreaks of the new coronavirus among plant workers. The


(CMEGroup.com)

Coronavirus threatens Chicago’s last remaining trading pits

Grain options pits remain closed, for now

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago brokers and traders worry COVID-19 will kill more of the city’s once famous shout-and-gesture trading pits. CME Group, which owns the Chicago Board of Trade, said this week that most of the pits it closed in March because of the pandemic will remain shuttered indefinitely. The news disappointed some brokers