The Good: Although it wasn’t the strongest day in the Minneapolis the good news is that the contract moved up for the second consecutive session. The September contract closed the day at US$6.32 per bushel which was up by less than one cent per bushel. The gains in spring wheat paled in comparison with the rise in the winter wheat markets. Kansas City and Chicago futures gained 11 and eight cents per bushel, respectively. The gains were good news for the wheat market which appears to be stabilizing near the US$6.30 per bushel level.
The Bad: The canola market managed to eke out a small gain of C$4.10 per tonne and settled the session at C$685.10 per tonne. The gains were supported by higher soybean futures which rose by five to seven cents per bushel today. The soybean oil futures closed the day up by 0.3 to 0.4 per cent. The bad news is that the gains in canola were only a minor blip in the downward move in the market since the beginning of the month.
The Ugly: Cash pea prices in Saskatchewan continue to drop and are down by C$77 per tonne from last year’s levels. The pressure in the pea market is reflecting the general overall structure of the plant protein market. The soybean meal futures market traded up today but is still just above contract lows. The September soybean meal market is trading at US$275.4 per hundred weight. This is the lowest level for the nearby soybean meal contract in the past nine years. Funds have maintained a short position in soybean meal through most of the calendar year. Funds currently are net short a record 131,938 contracts of soybean meal which amounts to 13.2 million tonnes of soybean meal. The ugly news is that funds are likely to continue to short the soybean meal market as long as crop conditions remain good in the Corn Belt.
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