Corn futures hit decade-high above $8 per bushel on global supply
War in Ukraine and cold weather in the US lead to forecasts of lower supply, driving grain prices higher.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures topped $8 a bushel and reached their highest price in nearly a decade on Monday on concerns over unfavourable United States weather and the Ukraine war disrupting grain exports.
Traders worry chilly weather will slow US crop plantings this spring and could potentially reduce yields at harvest time in the autumn. Forecasts show “only brief open windows for Midwest planting” through month’s end, said Rich Feltes, head of market insights for broker RJ O’Brien.
Quebec duck farm says it has to kill 150,000 birds, lay off 300 staff due to avian flu
A Quebec duck-farming operation says three of its facilities have been devastated by avian flu, forcing it to slaughter 150,000 birds and lay off nearly 300 employees.
It will likely take six to 12 months and possibly several million dollars to fully restore the company’s operations, Angela Anderson of Brome Lake Ducks said in an interview Wednesday.
Brome Lake Ducks announced its first case of avian flu on April 13. Anderson said the virus was detected after employees at one of its sites noticed some of the birds getting sick and contacted a veterinarian, who recommended testing.
Grocery items with the greatest price change in March
(Stacker) - The cost of groceries increased nearly 10% year-over-year and 1% since February, driven largely by a rise in prices of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, according to Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday, April 12. The report was released amid the highest documented inflation in more than four decades.
Economists consider two versions of the CPI data, which measures the change in prices paid by urban consumers for goods and services. The “headline” CPI, which rose 8.5%, includes all prices consumers face from housing and gas to bananas; while “core” CPI, which rose 6.5%, excludes typically volatile food and energy prices. The headline CPI increase came in slightly above the 8.4% increase many economists predicted. Meanwhile, the cost of energy increased by 32%. The BLS measures consumer costs by tracking CPI, which measures price changes, and average prices, which offer estimates of real-world prices for goods and services paid by consumers.
The March report reflects the most severe impacts of the global disruptions in energy and food markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Recent dips in prices of oil per barrel and the leveling off of gasoline per gallon are not reflected in this report.
