Canola falls on Friday but gains $6.80 on the week

May canola fell 1.8 percent on Friday but closed the week higher as improved rail movement helped to the narrow the gap with other oilseeds.

It was a down day generally in crop markets with corn, soybeans, soy oil and Chicago wheat all lower.

Minneapolis wheat posted a small gain.

Oilseeds were still under pressure from news on Thursday that China had defaulted on 500,000 tonnes of soybean orders from America and Brazil.

Chinese buyers are suffering from credit problems and weak crush margins.

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May canola finished the week at $461 a tonne, down $8.50 from Thursday.

Over the week, May canola gained $6.0 or 1.5 percent.

November closed the week at $484.60, down $9.40.

Over the week, November gained $4.40 or 0.9 percent.

The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 139,888 tonnes of canola, down 1.4 percent from the week before.

Total crush to date is 4.73 million tonnes, down about 180,00 tonnes mainly because of the slow start to the year.

Wheat was under pressure from expectations that dry areas of the U.S. southern plains will get rain in the coming days, however accumulations are not expected to be large.

Price direction next week will depend a lot on the geographic coverage of the rain and the amount that falls.

Corn edged lower on thoughts that preparations for planting in the Midwest could start to pick up later next week when warmer weather will replace a cold snap over the next few days.

Over the week, nearby Minneapolis wheat fell the most in the wheat complex, dropping 2.7 percent, which Kansas fell about two percent and Chicago dropped 1.4 percent.

May corn dropped 0.7 percent.

Tensions remain high in Ukraine.

French ag consultant Agritel this week estimated Ukraine’s corn crop could fall to 23.3 million tonnes this year, down almost seven million tonnes from the record high of almost 31 million last year.

Financial problems fuelled by the political crisis are making it hard to buy crop inputs and corn needs more inputs than other crops such as barley.

May soybeans dropped 0.6 percent on the week.

Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne

Canola May 2014 461.00 -8.50 -1.81%

Canola Jul 2014 470.10 -8.90 -1.86%

Canola Nov 2014 484.60 -9.40 -1.90%

Canola Jan 2015 491.60 -9.40 -1.88%

Canola Mar 2015 498.30 -9.50 -1.87%

Milling Wheat May 2014 211.00 +1.00 +0.48%

Milling Wheat Jul 2014 209.00 unch 0.00%

Milling Wheat Oct 2014 212.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat May 2014 250.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Jul 2014 250.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Oct 2014 252.00 unch 0.00%

Barley May 2014 137.50 +7.00 +5.36%

Barley Jul 2014 135.50 +7.00 +5.45%

Barley Oct 2014 135.50 +7.00 +5.45%

American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound

Chicago

Soybeans May 2014 1463 -19.25 -1.30%

Soybeans Jul 2014 1447.25 -18.25 -1.25%

Soybeans Aug 2014 1379 -9.75 -0.70%

Soybeans Sep 2014 1267.75 -7.25 -0.57%

Soybeans Nov 2014 1214.75 -10.75 -0.88%

Soybeans Jan 2015 1220.25 -10.5 -0.85%

Soybean Meal May 2014 472.9 -6.6 -1.38%

Soybean Meal Jul 2014 463.1 -5.5 -1.17%

Soybean Meal Aug 2014 437.6 -2.4 -0.55%

Soybean Oil May 2014 42.1 -0.4 -0.94%

Soybean Oil Jul 2014 42.26 -0.42 -0.98%

Soybean Oil Aug 2014 42.08 -0.44 -1.03%

Corn May 2014 498.5 -2.75 -0.55%

Corn Jul 2014 504.5 -2.75 -0.54%

Corn Sep 2014 502.5 -4.5 -0.89%

Corn Dec 2014 499.25 -5.75 -1.14%

Corn Mar 2015 507 -5.5 -1.07%

Oats May 2014 403.5 -2 -0.49%

Oats Jul 2014 355.5 -0.75 -0.21%

Oats Sep 2014 343.25 -2.5 -0.72%

Oats Dec 2014 331.25 -4.5 -1.34%

Oats Mar 2015 329.75 -5.25 -1.57%

Wheat May 2014 660.25 -2 -0.30%

Wheat Jul 2014 668.25 -1.75 -0.26%

Wheat Sep 2014 678 -1.75 -0.26%

Wheat Dec 2014 691.75 -2 -0.29%

Wheat Mar 2015 704.25 -1.75 -0.25%

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat May 2014 701.75 +0.75 +0.11%

Spring Wheat Jul 2014 709.5 +1.75 +0.25%

Spring Wheat Sep 2014 715.5 +0.75 +0.10%

Spring Wheat Dec 2014 726.5 +0.5 +0.07%

Spring Wheat Mar 2015 735.25 -1 -0.14%

Kansas City

KC HRW Wheat May 2014 719.5 -3 -0.42%

KC HRW Wheat Jul 2014 726 -3 -0.41%

KC HRW Wheat Sep 2014 734.5 -3 -0.41%

KC HRW Wheat Dec 2014 745.25 -3.5 -0.47%

KC HRW Wheat Mar 2015 750.5 -3.5 -0.46%

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York rose 34 cents at $103.74 US per barrel.

The Canadian dollar at noon was 91.24 cents US, down from 91.64 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0960 Cdn.

The slump in the U.S. technology and biotechnology sectors continued to weigh on equity markets.

Traders worry that share prices might have run ahead of where they should be and there is uncertainty about what the U.S. Federal Reserve will do about its simulative programs.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed down 50.31 points, or 0.35 percent, at 14,257.69. It is still up about 4.7 percent this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 143.47 points or 0.89 percent, to end at 16,026.75.

The S&P 500 lost 17.39 points or 0.95 percent, to finish at 1,815.69.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 54.372 points or 1.34 percent, to close at 3,999.734.

For the week, the TSX fell 0.94 percent and the Dow fell 2.4 percent. The S&P 500 fell 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq lost 3.1 percent, the biggest weekly decline for both indexes since June 2012.