May canola futures fell $21.20 a tonnes over the week, on general veg oil crop weakness, technical weakness and talk of order cancelations.
But crush and export statistics show demand is still strong and this price collapse could prove to be over done.
Weather in Western Canada is expected to be mostly dry and warmer than normal for the next week and the harvest of crop that was not combined last fall is underway.
In China, borrowing rates surged last week to the highest level since 2014, leading to talk of a credit crunch that could make it more difficult for importers to get the financing they need.
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May canola closed at $482.50, down $5.80 or 1.19 percent on the day. Over the week May fell 4.2 percent
November today fell $7.20 or 1.47 percent to $482.60.
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Over the week, November fell $7.20 or 1.5 percent.
While the oilseed price fell, its demand picked up.
CRUSHING RECORD
Canola crush posted a one-week record of 208,268 tonnes in the week to March 22, up 15.2 percent from the week before. That represented 97.4 percent of capacity.
The crush to date has now topped six million tonnes, up 13.3 percent over last year at this point.
EXPORTS RECOVER
Canola exports in week 33 to March 19 rose to 256,000, up about 106,000 tonnes from the weak performance of the previous week when only 150,400 tonnes moved. The week before that was also slow when only 190,700 tonnes were exported.
Still, canola exports for the crop year so far are up 11.6 percent at 6.85 million tonnes.
OTHER CROP EXPORTS
With the improved movement of canola, the total movement of all grains out of the West Coast improved greatly in week 33 to almost 800,000 tonnes, from 624,400 tonnes the week before.
Shipments the previous two weeks had been reduced by weather problems.
Wheat exports for week 33 were 238,600 tonnes, down from 284,300 tonnes the previous week.
Barley shipments were 89,400 tonnes in the week, up from 1,800 tonnes the previous week.
WEST COAST STATUS
Vancouver cleared 11 ships in week 33, said the weekly report from Quorum Corp., federally appointed grain movement monitor.
The report revised the week 32 report to say that 11 ships were cleared, up one from the original report.
The number of ships in the line up was 31, down from an unusually large 36 the week before and similar to the line up last year at this time, but still higher than normal.
At Prince Rupert three vessels were cleared, up from two the previous week. The vessel line up at Prince Rupert fell to six from eight the previous week.
US MARKETS
May soybeans fell 1.54 percent today on the big South American crop and expectations of record large U.S. soy acres this spring. On the week, soybeans fell 2.5 percent.
The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange raised its outlook for Argentina’s 2016-17 soy crop to 56.5 million tonnes from 54.8 million previously, the latest of a series of upgrades to forecasts for harvests in South America, Reuters reported.
Soy oil was hammered almost three percent lower today, but over the week was down only 0.2 percent.
The National Biodiesel Board on Thursday petitioned the U.S. government to impose antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia that it says have flooded the U.S. market, Reuters reported.
Palm oil prices were also lower.
WHEAT
Rain this coming week in the U.S. Plains and Midwest is expected to improve the outlook for the American winter wheat crop.
Today the three wheat contracts all took their own path, but over the week all three were lower.
The Minneapolis May spring wheat contract fell 2.4 percent on the week.
OUTSIDE MARKETS
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were up 27 cents to US$47.97 per barrel.
In the afternoon, the Canadian dollar was trading around US74.74 cents, down from 74.90 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar was C$1.3380.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 9.06 points, or 0.06 percent, at 15,442.67.
For the week, the TSX fell 0.3 percent.
U.S. stock markets watched in dismay as the Republicans had to pull their health insurance bill because it did not have the votes to pass in the House of Representatives. But some analysts believe that with the contentious health insurance issue off the table, Congress will be able to turn to legislation such as tax cuts and regulatory reform that will have more unified support among the majority Republicans.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.86 points, or 0.29 percent, to end at 20,596.72, the S&P 500 lost 1.98 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,343.98 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.05 points, or 0.19 percent, to 5,828.74.
For the week, the Dow fell 1.5 percent, the S&P lost 1.4 percent, and the Nasdaq dropped 1.2 percent.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola May 2017Â Â 482.50Â Â -5.80Â Â -1.19%
Canola Jul 2017Â Â 489.30Â Â -5.50Â Â -1.11%
Canola Nov 2017Â Â 482.60Â Â -7.20Â Â -1.47%
Canola Jan 2018Â Â 488.10Â Â -7.20Â Â -1.45%
Canola Mar 2018Â Â 492.90Â Â -6.80Â Â -1.36%
Milling Wheat May 2017Â Â 231.00Â Â -1.00Â Â -0.43%
Milling Wheat Jul 2017Â Â 231.00Â Â -2.00Â Â -0.86%
Milling Wheat Oct 2017Â Â 226.00Â Â -2.00Â Â -0.88%
Durum Wheat May 2017  281.00  unch  0.00%
Durum Wheat Jul 2017  280.00  unch  0.00%
Durum Wheat Oct 2017  268.00  unch  0.00%
Barley May 2017  137.00  unch  0.00%
Barley Jul 2017  138.00  unch  0.00%
Barley Oct 2017  140.00  unch  0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans May 2017Â Â 975.75Â Â -15.25Â Â -1.54%
Soybeans Jul 2017Â Â 986.25Â Â -15.25Â Â -1.52%
Soybeans Aug 2017Â Â 988.50Â Â -15.25Â Â -1.52%
Soybeans Sep 2017Â Â 982.00Â Â -14.75Â Â -1.48%
Soybeans Nov 2017Â Â 977.00Â Â -14.25Â Â -1.44%
Soybeans Jan 2018Â Â 982.50Â Â -14.25Â Â -1.43%
Soybean Meal May 2017Â Â 318.20Â Â -2.50Â Â -0.78%
Soybean Meal Jul 2017Â Â 321.40Â Â -2.60Â Â -0.80%
Soybean Meal Aug 2017Â Â 322.00Â Â -2.50Â Â -0.77%
Soybean Oil May 2017Â Â 32.23Â Â -0.99Â Â -2.98%
Soybean Oil Jul 2017Â Â 32.49Â Â -0.99Â Â -2.96%
Soybean Oil Aug 2017Â Â 32.56Â Â -0.98Â Â -2.92%
Corn May 2017Â Â 356.25Â Â -0.50Â Â -0.14%
Corn Jul 2017Â Â 363.75Â Â -0.75Â Â -0.21%
Corn Sep 2017Â Â 371.50Â Â -0.50Â Â -0.13%
Corn Dec 2017Â Â 379.50Â Â -0.50Â Â -0.13%
Corn Mar 2018  389.00  unch  0.00%
Oats May 2017Â Â 246.25Â Â -1.75Â Â -0.71%
Oats Jul 2017Â Â 236.25Â Â -1.50Â Â -0.63%
Oats Sep 2017Â Â 229.50Â Â -4.00Â Â -1.71%
Oats Dec 2017Â Â 229.00Â Â -5.00Â Â -2.14%
Oats Mar 2018  232.00  unch  0.00%
Wheat May 2017Â Â 424.75Â Â +3.75Â Â +0.89%
Wheat Jul 2017Â Â 439.50Â Â +3.50Â Â +0.80%
Wheat Sep 2017Â Â 454.50Â Â +3.50Â Â +0.78%
Wheat Dec 2017Â Â 473.75Â Â +3.00Â Â +0.64%
Wheat Mar 2018Â Â 488.25Â Â +3.00Â Â +0.62%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat May 2017Â Â 535.75Â Â -5.00Â Â -0.92%
Spring Wheat Jul 2017Â Â 542.50Â Â -4.50Â Â -0.82%
Spring Wheat Sep 2017Â Â 548.75Â Â -4.75Â Â -0.86%
Spring Wheat Dec 2017Â Â 557.75Â Â -5.00Â Â -0.89%
Spring Wheat Mar 2018Â Â 568.50Â Â -4.75Â Â -0.83%
Kansas City
Hard Red Wheat May 2017  428.00  unch  0.00%
Hard Red Wheat Jul 2017Â Â 441.00Â Â +0.25Â Â +0.06%
Hard Red Wheat Sep 2017Â Â 456.00Â Â +0.50Â Â +0.11%
Hard Red Wheat Dec 2017Â Â 477.75Â Â +0.75Â Â +0.16%
Hard Red Wheat Mar 2018Â Â 493.00Â Â +0.50Â Â +0.10%
Chicago livestock futures in US¢/pound (rounded to two decimal places)
Live Cattle (P) Apr 2017Â Â 122.10Â Â +0.32Â Â +0.26%
Live Cattle (P) Jun 2017Â Â 112.85Â Â +0.05Â Â +0.04%
Live Cattle (P) Aug 2017Â Â 107.80Â Â -0.10Â Â -0.09%
Feeder Cattle (P) Mar 2017Â Â 133.38Â Â -0.32Â Â -0.24%
Feeder Cattle (P) Apr 2017Â Â 135.58Â Â +0.23Â Â +0.17%
Feeder Cattle (P) May 2017Â Â 133.80Â Â -0.22Â Â -0.16%
Lean Hogs (P) Apr 2017Â Â 67.28Â Â -2.07Â Â -2.98%
Lean Hogs (P) May 2017Â Â 72.22Â Â -1.73Â Â -2.34%
Lean Hogs (P) Jun 2017Â Â 75.75Â Â -1.85Â Â -2.38%