The Chicago Board of Trade has launched a survey asking customers whether it should shorten the nearly non-stop electronic trading cycle for grains and hinted that executives had grown less concerned about competition from rival IntercontinentalExchange. The Board of Trade, which dominates agricultural trading with U.S. grain and oilseed futures and options contracts, in May
Tag Archives Economics
CME surveys members on trade hours
U.S. drought prompts record crop insurance payout
washington / reuters Crop insurers have paid a record $11.6 billion to U.S. growers in compensation for losses due largely to widespread drought in 2012. Some analysts expect indemnities to reach $20 billion this year, nearly double the old record set in 2011. That would mean steep losses as insurers collected just over $11 billion
Live cattle prices end 2012 on a high note
Live cattle prices on the monthly nearby futures chart have rallied to within a couple of dollars of the historical high of $131.05, which was established in March 2012. Long-term charts, such as the monthly live cattle chart illustrated here are invaluable for identifying major price trends, as trendlines and formations on a weekly or
Governments urged to tackle sharp commodity price swings
Governments must co-operate to tackle increasingly sharp swings in prices of commodities such as food, metals and oil, says a British think-tank. “Trade is becoming a front line for conflicts over resources — at a time when the global economy is more dependent than ever on trade in resources,” states a report from London-based Chatham
Pope calls for new economic model, more ethical markets
Pope Benedict has called for a new economic model and ethical regulations for markets, saying the global financial crisis was proof that capitalism does not protect the weakest members of society. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, which was marked on Jan. 1, Benedict also warned that food insecurity
U.S. fiscal plan averts steep rise in milk prices
Adeal approved by the U.S. Congress late New Year’s Day to avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” also includes measures to avert the “dairy cliff” — a steep increase in milk prices. The tax agreement contains a nine-month fix for expiring farm subsidy programs by extending a 2008
Rural Germany faces steep decline
As farms get larger and land more expensive, young people from small towns are packing up and moving to the big cities in search of career opportunities. With a shrinking tax base, funding for the provision of services dries up, schools are shuttered, shops close, and doctors flee for greener pastures. Sound familiar? It should.
KAP sets up Puratone meeting
Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) is hosting a meeting Dec. 3 to try and clarify where grain farmers owed money by Niverville-based Puratone stand. “We’re not going to be threatening people or making statements of claim,” KAP president Doug Chorney said in an interview Nov. 26. “We really just want to get the facts out because
Think-tank report boosts farmers’ green credentials
KAP president says this year’s combination of flooding and water scarcity shows it’s time for “a rethink”
Manitoba farm groups are lauding a report from a leading think-tank that backs the idea of rewarding farmers for their role in protecting the environment. The report from the non-partisan Macdonald-Laurier Institute is further evidence “that incentive programs like ecological goods and services are going to be much more effective at meeting society’s objectives thanTrade expert calls supply management “awful, awful” policy
Supply management is bad public policy but won’t end until Canadian consumers demand it, says Michael Hart, professor of trade policy at Carleton University. “It seems to be one of the few areas where the consumer seems to be prepared to accept the status quo,” Hart said at the recent Fields on Wheels conference. The
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
