The improving moisture situation in Argentina’s soybean regions and weakening soy meal values pressured the oilseed complex lower on Thursday, including canola.
Canola gave back most of the gains it posted on the last two trading days of 2013. March closed at $441.40, down $8.50 or 1.89 percent.
Argentina has been receiving rain this week and showers today reached areas that had missed the rain earlier. Eighty percent of Argentina’s soy plantings and 70 percent of corn will benefit from these showers, Anthony Deane, climatologist at consultancy WeatherWise Argentina said in a Reuters story.
Read Also

U.S. grains: Corn futures hit two-week low; soy slides, wheat steadies
U.S. corn futures hit a two-week low on Monday and soybeans also fell as market players continued to brace for large crops and forecasts called for milder, non-threatening weather in the Midwest production belt.
A dry spell in December had raised concerns that yields might be hurt, but with the rain this week that worry has been put to rest.
Pod filling in most of Brazil begins in early February and in Argentina in mid February.
Soymeal was the biggest percentage loser in the soy complex today on expectations of slowing meal demand. Because of problems shipping dried distillers’ grain to China, DDG prices are falling sharply, and domestic feeders are expected to shift from soy meal to DDGs, which competes with meal in the protein market.
Front-month soy oil fell to lowest level on continuous chart since July 2010; contract lows set across the board on technical selling and weakness in soybeans and meal.
Malaysian palm oil reached a three-week high early but ended lower today on concerns about the pace of exports.
The record large Canadian canola crop and expectations for burdensome year-end supply, coupled with transportation problems associated with the extreme cold in Western Canada and the lackluster export pace are all weighing on canola futures.
To Dec. 16, Canada had shipped 2.884 million tonnes of canola, down from 3.231 million at the same point last year and 3.369 the year before, according to Canadian Grain Commission statistics. China has bought more canola this year but Japan, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates have bought less.
Canadian wheat (excluding durum) exports are ahead of the last two years. To Dec. 16 shipments totaled 6.260 million tonnes, up from 4.877 at the same time last year and 5.294 two years ago.
Cold and snow in the United States disrupted grain and livestock movement today. Another icy blast next week is expected to cause more disruptions.
The weakness in soybeans today spilled over into corn futures. Corn is also under pressure from the trade problem with China, which has rejected a large volume of American corn and a couple of shipments of DDGs because they contain a genetically modified corn type not yet approved by Beijing.
The next potential big market moving event will be the USDA monthly supply and demand and grain stocks reports expected Jan. 10.
Although the link between crude oil and vegetable oil is not exceptionally strong, the almost $3 per barrel drop in crude today isn’t helping veg oil. Crude dropped as Libya prepared to restart a major oil field after being shut down by a strike since October. Also there was speculation that crude inventories will increase at Cushing, Oklahoma, a benchmark delivery point for American crude.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Jan 2014 432.10 -7.80 -1.77%
Canola Mar 2014 441.40 -8.50 -1.89%
Canola May 2014 450.20 -8.70 -1.90%
Canola Jul 2014 458.50 -9.10 -1.95%
Canola Nov 2014 471.60 -9.20 -1.91%
Milling Wheat Mar 2014 181.00 -4.00 -2.16%
Milling Wheat May 2014 189.00 -4.00 -2.07%
Milling Wheat Jul 2014 193.00 -4.00 -2.03%
Durum Wheat Mar 2014 242.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat May 2014 246.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Jul 2014 247.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Mar 2014 146.00 unch 0.00%
Barley May 2014 148.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Jul 2014 148.00 unch 0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans Jan 2014 1287 -25.5 -1.94%
Soybeans Mar 2014 1270 -22.5 -1.74%
Soybeans May 2014 1257.25 -19.75 -1.55%
Soybeans Jul 2014 1246.25 -18.25 -1.44%
Soybeans Aug 2014 1221.25 -13.25 -1.07%
Soybeans Sep 2014 1166.5 -8.75 -0.74%
Soybean Meal Jan 2014 423.8 -13.9 -3.18%
Soybean Meal Mar 2014 406.3 -10.7 -2.57%
Soybean Meal May 2014 399.3 -8.3 -2.04%
Soybean Oil Jan 2014 38.51 -0.31 -0.80%
Soybean Oil Mar 2014 38.8 -0.33 -0.84%
Soybean Oil May 2014 39.15 -0.34 -0.86%
Corn Mar 2014 420.5 -1.5 -0.36%
Corn May 2014 429 -1.25 -0.29%
Corn Jul 2014 435.75 -1.25 -0.29%
Corn Sep 2014 442 -1.5 -0.34%
Corn Dec 2014 448.25 -2 -0.44%
Oats Mar 2014 351 -3.25 -0.92%
Oats May 2014 326 +0.75 +0.23%
Oats Jul 2014 320.25 +0.25 +0.08%
Oats Sep 2014 312.75 +0.5 +0.16%
Oats Dec 2014 304.5 -0.25 -0.08%
Wheat Mar 2014 597 -8.25 -1.36%
Wheat May 2014 603.75 -8.25 -1.35%
Wheat Jul 2014 608.25 -8.5 -1.38%
Wheat Sep 2014 618.25 -8.25 -1.32%
Wheat Dec 2014 632.25 -8.25 -1.29%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Mar 2014 625.25 -10 -1.57%
Spring Wheat May 2014 635.25 -9.75 -1.51%
Spring Wheat Jul 2014 646.25 -10 -1.52%
Spring Wheat Sep 2014 655.75 -10.25 -1.54%
Spring Wheat Dec 2014 670.25 -8 -1.18%
Kansas City
KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 631.25 -9.25 -1.44%
KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 634 -9 -1.40%
KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 634.75 -8.75 -1.36%
KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 647.75 -8.25 -1.26%
KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2014 661.75 -7.5 -1.12%
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York dropped $2.98 at $95.44 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 94.05 cents US, up a little from 94.02 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0633 Cdn.
In early unofficial tallies —
The TSX composite was down 27.35 points or 0.2 percent at 13,594.19.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 134.67 points or 0.81 percent, to 16,441.99.
The S&P 500 lost 16.33 points or 0.88 percent, to 1,832.03.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 33.521 points or 0.8 percent, to 4,143.069.