The RCMP was investigating potential "criminal misconduct" in the management of Crocus. Since it was the largest venture capital fund in the province with close ties to the most important economic development projects of the day, the most dynamic entrepreneurs and the provincial government which provided a tax credit to investors and sometimes co-invested in Crocus projects, the process couldn't help but cause a chill. It's mostly coincidental -- the spike in oil and potash prices helped -- but in the time it took to settle the civil suit and for the RCMP to complete its Crocus investigation, Saskatchewan sprinted ahead of Manitoba in economic growth rate and became a "have" province. By comparison, the most recent Crocus quarterly receiver's report (the newest one is due out today) peg...
Significantly higher potash prices and extraordinarily tight supply have become much more firmly entrenched since China's previous contract was signed 14 months ago," stated PotashCorp chief executive officer Bill Doyle. Doyle noted that the settlement with Sinofert -- which is one-fifth owned by PotashCorp and is the largest fertilizer distributor in China -- "highlights the importance of securing supply in an increasingly tight market.
Speculative interest was behind February's huge spike in high-protein wheat on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. No. 1 grade hard red spring wheat hit a "spectacular" peak of US$22.56 on Feb. 26 after investors who had bet prices would fall got caught in a "short squeeze. There's some speculative interest but there's a real reason for that interest and it has to do with the fact that at the end of the current crop year U.S. ending stocks of wheat are going to move down to lowest level since 1940s. Meanwhile, "potash prices at the port of Vancouver have jumped from record to record," the Scotiabank report stated, "climbing from $316 US per tonne in January to $394 US in February and to $412.50 in March."
We're not there yet. Potash Corp., the world's largest potash producer and the second and third largest producer of nitrogen and phosphate, three key crop nutrients, presented poor quarterly results this week. For this industry, weak results in Q3 means 2009 is a write-off and most hope fertilizer buyers will come off the sidelines next year. who can entirely blame the farmers? The price of potash remained at very low levels for decades and farmers grew comfortable with affordable, predictable fertilizer prices. When global demand for nutrients skyrocketed last year, fertilizer producers took full advantage and the price climbed to $1,000 (US) per tonne. As a result, last year's predicament provided exceptional value to investors and shareholders, but little to farmers.
The world's biggest producer of crop nutrients said its April-June sales almost doubled over a year ago, to $2.62 billion from $1.35 billion, which "reflects rising global fertilizer demand and the impact of significantly higher prices for potash, nitrogen and phosphate products. PotashCorp, which recently announced a $250-per-ton price increase for potash in North America, is "in a sold-out volume position and will continue to ship to North American and offshore customers on an allocation basis" for the rest of the year. We are now downgrading both stocks due to rising fertilizer demand destruction risks as fertilizer prices soar and food prices recede," [Sam Kanes] wrote in a note to clients.
Potash has made international headlines recently over BHP's attempt at a hostile take-over of PotashCorp. However, the Australian company's $40 million dollar bid was halted by Industry Minister Tony Clement, but BHP has 30-days to reconsider its offer, meaning the debate over one of the world's hottest commodities isn't over yet. We have, approximately, a 500 year supply of potash. We are home to half of the world's potash. It is in our territory so obviously we have to rethink how we want to shape the future of our province and First Nations people need to be involved," Chief [Guy Lonechild] said. Chief Lonechild added that First Nations people are the fastest growing community. "It's important for young people to say there are opportunities here at home in Saskatchewan. They don't h...
... dollars because of a spike in commodity prices. Chief Lonechild said revenue from the potash sect...
In Manitoba, it seems hard to imagine that the problems are real. The Conference Board of Canada predicts that Winnipeg's economy will grow by 3.7 per cent, one of the fastest growth rates of any city in the country. Grain prices are rising. Manitoba is benefiting from the second-best influx of immigration to the province in the past 20 years. In the superheated economy of Saskatoon, superheated house-price increases are to be expected, as they are in Calgary, Edmonton and even, thanks to oil and potash, in Regina. But there's a bigger question mark over why prices are beating inflation in Hamilton, London, Halifax and yes, Winnipeg, where the price of new homes has gone up by almost 16 per cent over the past year. But we'll come back to Winnipeg. In Manitoba itself, though, the rise i...
...Oil, potash and uranium are very much in demand and food price...
Even with the lacklustre performance Monday, the TSX is still within about 350 points of its all time high reached late last July "partially because we have all the stuff which is causing these prices to go up, such as potash, uranium, oil and wheat," said Gavin Graham, director of investments, Guardian Group of Funds.
Potash, Canada's "pink gold," is coveted more than ever, ... key issue for Canada is how global potash prices will be influenced by a new owner of the world's l...
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
© Copyright 2012, vLex. All Rights Reserved.
Contents in vLex Canada
Explore vLex
For Professionals
For Partners
Company
Other interesting searches:
autofinancement net | electronic component news | writing prompts | oil industry statistics | national election date | maplestory | bootylicious | Brendan Timmins | leatherheads | The Roaring Twenties
