Nearby canola, soybeans and corn are locked limit down as of the noon hour CST as panic sweeps the market over Japan’s crisis with several nuclear power reactors.
May canola is down the limit $30 per tonne at $525.
Stock markets are also down.
The nuclear power plant situation took a turn for the worse today when an explosion at one of the reactors damaged the containment vessel, allowing radioactive material to escape into the atmosphere.
The government has told people in a radius of 30 kilometres around the plant to stay indoors.
There are four reactors with serious problems, all resulting from damage sustained by the earthquake and tsunami last Friday.
Over the past two days, Japan’s stock exchange, the Nikki, has dropped about 17 percent.
Japan is one of the world’s largest importers of grains, oilseeds and meat and the crisis there will cause temporary disruptions in shipments to the country.
Japan is the top buyer of Canadian canola, the second largest customer for Canadian pork.
