By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday July 9, 2020

Jul 9, 2020 | 9:58 AM

May was the second biggest month for Canadian wheat exports this crop year.

The Sask Wheat market outlook said Indonesia was the biggest buyer of Canadian wheat at 352,000 tonnes, followed by China at 351,000 and Colombia at 168,000.

Wheat exports improved over the past two months but are still five per cent or 800,000 tonnes behind last year’s pace. Unfortunately, most of the shipments are happening when wheat prices are at their lowest level during the crop year.

–

Canada’s two largest railways moved record quantities of grain in the second quarter after benefiting from another strong month in June.

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

1h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

5h ago

Raiders AGM

Raiders impact on Prince Albert local economy continues to go up: AGM report

23h ago

CN Rail said it is on pace for record shipments of grain this crop year after record movements of Canadian grain last month and the quarter contributed to its best performance in the first half-year.

The railway said it has moved 26.9 million tonnes this crop year that ends July 31, up from 26.5 million tonnes at the same point last year.

It moved 15 million tonnes from January to June, 8.15 million tonnes in the second quarter and 2.7 million tonnes in June, its fourth consecutive monthly high.

CP Rail recently announced it moved records amount of grain last quarter and in June.

The country’s railways have ramped up shipments of Western grain by using larger hopper cars and trains while customers have been investing in elevator networks to accommodate 8,500-foot trains.

–

Several companies around the world have had beef exports temporarily suspended by China.

Cargill’s Beef Packing Plant at High River, Alta. is one of those companies. China has put in similar rules for a number of other beef, pork and poultry operations around the world – including Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, and Tyson’s Foods poultry operation in the U.S.

Cargill official Daniel Sullivan said they are still determining what it means and how they will proceed, and its production capacity is not expected to change as a result.

He said the High River plant is now back at over 95 per cent production capacity.

–

alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF