Canola futures Thursday traded in a narrow range around Wednesday’s close and ended slightly stronger, helped by a falling loonie.
January canola closed at $600.20, up $1.20.
Disappointing U.S. weekly soybean exports, the lowest in 16 months, pressured oilseeds.
Net soybean export sales of 191,900 tonnes were well below forecasts for 600,000 to 800,000 tonnes and included a cancellation of 545,600 tonnes from an unknown country.
Oilseeds were also pressured by improved production weather in Brazil.
Offsetting the pressure on canola was support from Japanese pricing of old export business and slow farmer selling. The loonie dropped to about par by the market’s close.
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U.S. grains: Soybean futures set two-week high on US weather worry, soyoil rally
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures touched a two-week high on Friday on worries that heat may threaten U.S. crops and expectations that the country’s biofuel policy would boost demand for soyoil, analysts said.
USDA updates is supply and demand numbers on Friday morning.
• Reuters reports that although the U.S. drought’s effect on soybean yields was less than expected, the dry weather did affect meal and oil content.
Agronomists at Iowa State University project soybean protein levels at around 33-34 percent of total weight, versus an average of about 35-36 percent. Soybean oil content is about 19.5-20 percent versus 18.5 percent normally.
The extra oil will weigh on soy oil prices. Canola, which has a higher oil content, closely follows the trend in soy oil.
• Wheat continues to edge higher on thoughts that slowing exports from the Black Sea region and declining production prospects in Argentina and Australia will force buyers to turn to North American supply.
• The Australian wheat crop, based on an average of estimates in a Reuters poll of analysts released today, is 20.47 million tonnes. Exports might shrink to a three-year low.
It previous poll pegged the crop at 21.44 million tonnes and the official government estimate is 22.5 million.
Last year the country produced a record 29.5 million.
• Friday is the deadline for signing up to the CWB Harvest Pool. Gord Flaten, vice president of grain procurement, on Wednesday said the organization has enough wheat committed to run an effective pool but it can accept more. He said in a release that 65 to 80 percent of the wheat crop is not yet committed to a pool or a cash contract.
Winnepeg (per tonne)
Canola Nov 12 $602.70, up $1.20 +0.20%
Canola Jan 13 $600.20, up $1.20 +0.20%
Canola Mar 13 $598.00, up $1.60 +0.27%
Canola May 13 $594.70, up $2.10 +0.35%
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $310.30, unchanged
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $319.80, unchanged
Milling Wheat May 13 $322.80, unchanged
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $312.40, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $319.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat May 13 $323.00, unchanged
Barley Dec 12 $250.00, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $253.00, unchanged
Barley May 13 $254.00, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Nov 12 $14.9925, down 9.5 -0.63%
Soybeans (P) Jan 13 $14.9575, down 11.25 -0.75%
Soybeans (P) Mar 13 $14.765, down 8.75 -0.59%
Soybeans (P) May 13 $14.56, down 5.0 -0.34%
Corn (P) Dec 12 $7.4125, down 3.0 -0.40%
Corn (P) Mar 13 $7.4325, down 2.75 -0.37%
Corn (P) May 13 $7.4025, down 2.25 -0.30%
Oats (P) Dec 12 $3.6375, down 1.5 -0.41%
Oats (P) Mar 13 $3.725, unchanged
Oats (P) May 13 $3.725, down 0.25 -0.07%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $9.58875, down 1.0 -0.10%
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $9.665, up 0.75 +0.08%
Spring Wheat May 13 $9.735, up 0.5 +0.05%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 $9.6825, down 0.25 -0.03%
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie was $1.0014 US, down from $1.0028 the day before.
The U.S. buck was 99.86 cents Cdn.
The loonie closed at $1.0004 US.
Crude oil in New York closed at $85.09 per barrel, up 65 cents. A version of this story from this morning wrongly said oil was falling. I was accidently looking at Wednesday’s closing price, not Thursday morning’s trade.
Equity markets continued on a gloomy trend, concerned about the U.S. government’s ability to compromise to address the fiscal cliff. Also, the head of European Central Bank said the bank has done about all it can to address the zone’s debt crisis and it was up to government to improve investor confidence by cutting regulations and bureaucracy.
In unofficial tallies:
Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index fell 39.54 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 12,191.05.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 121.41 points, or 0.94 percent, to finish at 12,811.32.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 17.02 points, or 1.22 percent, closing at 1,377.51.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 41.70 points, or 1.42 percent, to close at 2,895.58.
