Canola futures little changed, but weekly crush was strong

July canola rose by less than a penny a bushel on Friday, wrapping a week when the price barely budged.

The Statistics Canada canola seeding intentions forecast at 19.416 million acres, down 4.5 percent from last year, was at the low end of the range of expectations and could present problems if we run into any weather problems this year.

But for now, the trade does not appear to be worried.

Over the week, the most traded contract, July, rose only 40 cents a tonne, closing today at $541.60. May rose $1.90 over the week to close at $449.40.

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New crop November rose $3 over the week, closing at $446.30 a tonne.

The ho-hum nature of canola trade reflected a similar mood in Chicago soybeans.

For the week, CBOT front-month soybeans edged up 0.03 percent, front-month soymeal dipped 0.2 percent and front-month soyoil rose 0.3 percent, posting its fourth straight weekly gain.

Although canola trade is stagnant the same could not be said for weekly canola crush, which saw a big jump back.

The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 150,938 tonnes of canola in the week ending April 22. That was up almost 10 percent from the previous week.

The amount did not set a record. Twice in March the crush topped 160,000 tonnes, but the tally was well above the usual range of 135,000 140,000 and it represented a crush capacity of almost 83 percent.

The crush so far this crop year is about 5.27 million tones, up from five million at the same point last year.

Looking at Chicago markets for Friday, soybeans were down, as the truckers’ strike in Brazil does not appear to have the same support as the protests last month.

Also the spreading avian flu weighed on soybeans and corn.

Minnesota declared a state of emergency over a strain of avian flu yesterday. So far 7.3 million birds have been exterminated, but that is a drop in the bucket.

The U.S. slaughters more than 8.5 billion chickens for food each year.

The advance of corn seeding in the Midwest as drier weather predominates pressured corn lower today with May down 1.69 percent. Over the week corn fell four percent.

Minneapolis May spring wheat fell 1.88 percent today.

Over the week Minneapolis May wheat fell 0.4 percent while new crop December fell 2.5 cents, also 0.4 percent.

U.S. wheat prices continue to be under pressure as U.S. wheat struggles to compete against other export sources and the prospect for the 2015 global wheat crop looks favourable among major exporters.

However, the International Grains Council this week trimmed global wheat production in 2015-16 by four million tonnes to 705 million owing to reduced prospects in Argentina, China and India and was down on the prior season’s record 721 million.

Wheat consumption in 2015-15 was forecast at 711 million tonnes while stocks at the end of the season were projected to decline to 194 million, down from 199 million a year earlier.

Statistics Canada’s survey on seeding intentions showed farmers planned to plant more oats than expected at 3.645 million acres, up 30.3 percent over last year.

That weighed on Chicago oats futures with may down 9.75 cents or 3.88 percent today. Over the week the May contract fell 8.2 percent.

Transportation issues complicate the relationship between Chicago oats and Western Canadian cash oats prices. However, it appears cash oats are down about 10 cents a bushel from the week before, with the price in Manitoba a little higher than C$2.90 a bushel

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell 59 cents to US$57.15 per barrel.

The Canadian dollar at noon was US82.20 cents, down a fraction from 82.32 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.2166.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Friday, propelled by strong results from tech companies Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 15.98 points, or 0.10 percent, at 15,408.33.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.52 points, or 0.12 percent, to 18,080.21, the S&P 500 gained 4.78 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,117.71 and the Nasdaq Composite added 36.02 points, or 0.71 percent, to 5,092.09.

For the week the TSX rose 0.3 percent, the S&P gained 1.8 percent, the Nasdaq gained 3.3 percent and the Dow added 1.4 percent.

ICE Futures Canada, dollars per tonne

Canola May 2015 449.40 +4.10 +0.92%

Canola Jul 2015 451.60 +0.20 +0.04%

Canola Nov 2015 446.30 +0.30 +0.07%

Canola Jan 2016 447.70 +0.60 +0.13%

Canola Mar 2016 447.90 +0.60 +0.13%

Milling Wheat May 2015 201.00 -4.00 -1.95%

Milling Wheat Jul 2015 203.00 -4.00 -1.93%

Milling Wheat Oct 2015 208.00 -4.00 -1.89%

Durum Wheat May 2015 313.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Jul 2015 303.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Oct 2015 308.00 unch 0.00%

Barley May 2015 207.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Jul 2015 207.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Oct 2015 192.00 unch 0.00%

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

Chicago

Soybeans May 2015 969.75 -8.5 -0.87%

Soybeans Jul 2015 970.75 -9.25 -0.94%

Soybeans Aug 2015 966.75 -9.5 -0.97%

Soybeans Sep 2015 956.25 -9.25 -0.96%

Soybeans Nov 2015 952.5 -9 -0.94%

Soybeans Jan 2016 959 -9 -0.93%

Soybean Meal May 2015 314.6 -2 -0.63%

Soybean Meal Jul 2015 313.3 -1.7 -0.54%

Soybean Meal Aug 2015 312 -1.5 -0.48%

Soybean Oil May 2015 31.67 -0.35 -1.09%

Soybean Oil Jul 2015 31.86 -0.36 -1.12%

Soybean Oil Aug 2015 31.92 -0.36 -1.12%

Corn May 2015 364.5 -6.25 -1.69%

Corn Jul 2015 369.75 -7 -1.86%

Corn Sep 2015 377.5 -6.75 -1.76%

Corn Dec 2015 388.25 -6.25 -1.58%

Corn Mar 2016 399.25 -6 -1.48%

Oats May 2015 241.5 -9.75 -3.88%

Oats Jul 2015 245.5 -10 -3.91%

Oats Sep 2015 251.5 -11.5 -4.37%

Oats Dec 2015 259.25 -9 -3.36%

Oats Mar 2016 267.5 -7 -2.55%

Wheat May 2015 486 -11.75 -2.36%

Wheat Jul 2015 488.5 -12.75 -2.54%

Wheat Sep 2015 498 -12.5 -2.45%

Wheat Dec 2015 515 -12.25 -2.32%

Wheat Mar 2016 530 -11.75 -2.17%

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat May 2015 535 -10.25 -1.88%

Spring Wheat Jul 2015 545.25 -10 -1.80%

Spring Wheat Sep 2015 554 -10 -1.77%

Spring Wheat Dec 2015 564.5 -10.5 -1.83%

Spring Wheat Mar 2016 578.75 -9.75 -1.66%

Kansas City

Hard Red Wheat May 2015 502.25 -14.25 -2.76%

Hard Red Wheat Jul 2015 507.5 -14.5 -2.78%

Hard Red Wheat Sep 2015 518 -14.5 -2.72%

Hard Red Wheat Dec 2015 537.25 -14.25 -2.58%

Hard Red Wheat Mar 2016 550.25 -14.25 -2.52%

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