Funds see food staple prices weathering storm

Agricultural commodity prices are likely to fall in the short term as investment funds exit the market but should recover eventually in line with their fundamentals, fund managers told a conference Oct. 7. Asked what impact the financial crisis would have on staple food commodities such as sugar, wheat and coffee, Chris Armitage, managing director

Cargill posts healthy profit

Cargill Inc. posted a 62 per cent rise in quarterly earnings Oct. 13, led largely by its industrial business. Cargill, one of the world’s largest private corporations, said earnings rose to $1.49 billion in the first quarter ended Aug. 31 from $917 million a year earlier. “Cargill realized a strong start to our new fiscal


Listeria inquiry may become CFIA review

“It will be hard to do anything of substance that fast.” – FOOD LAWYER RONALD DOERING As concerns about listeria and other food safety issues percolated through the Oct. 14 election campaign, federal officials tried to find candidates to head an inquiry promised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The appointment i sn’t expected until after



Commodity prices at mercy of world economy

“You can cut rates to the bone, but if nobody’s willing to lend you money, it doesn’t really matter.” – U. S. Market Aanalyst Phil Flynn Further declines in oil and metals prices after co-ordinated global interest rate cuts suggest that commodities will not return to their giddy heights until the world economy is on

World Bank sees tougher times in developing nations

“What we’re now moving into is the phase where one has to look more broadly at the danger of developing country growth and there it depends on policies they take and the support we and others can give them.” With world attention trained on resolving a financial crisis in western economies, World Bank president Robert


Corn ethanol falls out of favour

Corn-based ethanol is yesterday’s news for venture capitalists who, these days, are betting on everything from wood chips and algae to turkey guts and trash as potential sources of next-generation biofuels. Corn ethanol caught the imagination of U. S. policy-makers as a way to fix multiple problems: rising oil prices, dependence on foreign oil and

Trade warns financial crisis may delay grain tenders

The global financial crisis may reduce the number of purchase tenders in the global grains market in coming weeks as buyers hope for more commodity price falls, traders and analysts said Oct. 8. A major increase in tender activity in the international grains market had been expected this week following the end of the Ramadan


Mosaic CEO sees solid farm economy in 2009

U. S. fertilizer producer Mosaic Co. expects a solid farm economy in 2009 and does not see next year’s crop plantings being hurt by the effects of the credit freeze, its chief executive said in an interview. “To say ‘No, there are going to be no implications (on the farm economy from the credit crunch),’