By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, April 13 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) canola futures were mostly higher at the close on Wednesday, with the only loss in the old crop May contract.
A trader said rolling out of that May position was a feature in today’s session, along with some movement out of old crop July. He stressed that canola remains overvalued and over-bought, suggesting the Canadian oilseed could lose C$60 to C$100 per tonne.
Significant upticks in global crude oil prices were supportive of edible oil values. That led to gains in Chicago soyoil, and spurred turnarounds in soybeans and European rapeseed. Malaysian palm oil and Chicago soymeal remained lower.
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A major storm is dumping large amount of snow on the eastern Prairies, which will delay spring planting. However, the melt will benefit soil moisture levels.
The Canadian dollar was stronger at mid-afternoon, with the loonie at 79.60 U.S. cents, compared to Tuesday’s close of 79.26.
There were 33,989 contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 18,672 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 25,542 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola May 1,155.00 dn 2.60
Jul 1,136.70 up 1.30
Nov 1,027.80 up 9.10
Jan 1,029.30 up 10.20
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) turned around on Wednesday to finish on the plus side due to spillover from higher crude oil prices.
With the Good Friday holiday, the United States markets will be closed on Thursday evening and won’t reopen until 7 pm CDT on Easter Sunday.
Reports stated that China’s soybean imports of 6.35 million tonnes in March dropped 18.3 per cent from the previous March.
CONAB reported the Brazil soybean harvest hit 85 per cent complete this week.
The trucker strike in Argentina has brought port deliveries to a halt. However, grain terminals reportedly have sufficient reserves to get by for the time being.
CORN futures were higher on Wednesday, with support from soybeans and wheat.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that ethanol production for the week ended April 8 was 995,000 barrels per day. That’s down 0.8 per cent from the previous week.
U.S. President Joe Biden waived the ban on E15 ethanol for June to September as means to help lower fuel prices. A report indicated that would add about 25 million bushels to the corn crush.
The USDA attaché in Brazil estimated the country’s 2022/23 corn production to be 118 million tonnes. The current official USDA estimate is 116 million tonnes.
France said its corn exports are to be 5.8 million tonnes for 2021/22. Ending stocks rise 2.5 per cent at 2.02 million tonnes.
WHEAT futures were higher on Wednesday, but with more moderate increases compared to yesterday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin commented that peace talks have reached a dead end. This came just as the Russian military prepares for a major offensive in eastern Ukraine.
With parts of the U.S. Northern Plains inundated by the same major snowstorm as the eastern Canadian Prairies, spring planting in these areas will be delayed. The Southern Plains have now been forecast to receive rain within the next 10 days.
The USDA attaché in Brazil reported planted wheat acres are to expand by around 26 per cent at 8.4 million.
The European Commission estimated its total wheat exports for 2021/22 is to be 20.6 million tonnes, which would be down 3.7 per cent from the previous year.
In international purchases, Algeria acquired upwards to 100,000 tonnes of milling wheat and Japan issued a tender for 70,000 tonnes of feed wheat. Egypt has booked 240,000 tonnes of wheat from France, plus 50,000 from Bulgaria and surprisingly, 60,000 tonnes from Russia.
