Canola futures rose on Monday, supported by crusher buying and rising soybeans.
Canola crush margins have improved recently.
The forecast for a mostly dry, warm week across the Prairies is good news for harvesters.
Statistics Canada will release a production forecast on Wednesday based on producer surveys.
The Canadian Wheat Board will release the August Pool Return Outlook on Thursday.
• The Canadian Wheat Board today said harvest was seven percent complete. Normally 12 percent of the crop has been harvested by now. Alberta is farthest behind.
• Corn and soybean prices were supported by continuing dryness in parts of the Midwest. Weekend rain missed central Illinois, northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.
Rising crude oil also supported soybeans.
• After the close, the USDA reported that the amount of corn rated good-to-excellent had dropped to 57 percent from 60 percent the week before. Last year at the same time it was 70 percent.
The soybean good-to-excellent rating dropped to 59 percent from 61 percent the week before and 64 last year at the same time.
The spring wheat good-to-excellent rating fell to 62 percent from 66 percent last week and 72 percent last year.
• December spring wheat rose as high as $9.42 US per bu. in early trade but closed up only 2.5 cents at $9.2325.
Wheat was supported by disappointing yields as the combines roll in North Dakota and worries about dry soils in the southern Plains as farmers there prepare to seed the winter wheat crop.
• Also supporting wheat was talk that rain during harvest harmed Germany’s wheat quality.
And in Russia, analysts SovEcon said the quality of the wheat harvest there is proving a disappointment.
The supply of Black Sea region malting barley might be less than expected. SovEcon said brewers in the region might be forced to supplement supply with feed barley.
• Wall Street closed little changed but gold peaked at a new record high of more than $1,900 per ounce. The strong gold price helped lift mining stocks on the TSX composite, which gained about a half a percentage point.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Nov 11 $557.50, up $3.10
Canola Jan 12 $565.80, up $3.00
Canola Mar 12 $573.80, up $3.00
Canola May 12 $580.50, up $2.60
The previous day’s best basis was $10.00 under the November contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
Western Barley Oct 11 $199.00 unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Sep 11 $13.765, up 16.75 cents
Soybeans Nov 11 $13.8525, up 16.75
Soybeans Jan 12 $13.9525, up 16.5
Corn Sep 11 $7.205, up 9.5
Corn Dec 11 $7.345, up 9.25
Oats Sep 11 $3.54, up 5.5
Oats Dec 11 $3.63, up 5.5
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Sep 11 $9.4325, down 2.0 cents
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.2325, up 2.5
Spring Wheat Mar 12 $9.235, down 0.5
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were up $2.03 at $84.29 US per barrel in late trade.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0100 US, down from $1.0153 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 99.01 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index in a preliminary tally closed up 60.89 points, or 0.51 percent, at 12,068.36.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index inched up just 0.28 of a point, or 0.02 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,123.81.
