March canola edged higher Friday and posted a weekly gain of $4.10 finally halting is long slide.
The cold that discourages deliveries, and farmer reluctance to sell at these low prices has kept hedge pressure light. Bargain buying and thoughts that canola is undervalued compared to other oilseeds also helped support the price.
Most traded March rose 60 cents today to close at $442 per tonne.
But rallies are limited by the expectation of large year-end canola carryover stocks and by the prospect of record large South American soybean crops after rain this week ended worries about a December dry spell in Argentina.
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Soybeans edged higher Friday on bargain buying and on solid weekly U.S. export sales. Gains were limited by a report from Informa that pegged US soybean yield for the 2013 crop at 44 bushels per acre, up from 43.3 bu. in its last forecast.
It pegged U.S. soybean production at 3.329 billion bu. USDA’s forecast is 3.258 billion bu. but it will update its numbers on Jan. 10.
Wheat rose slightly on bargain buying and short-covering after prices fell earlier this week to their lowest since May 2012.
Support also came from worries that an intense cold snap Sunday-Monday with temperatures of -20 to -25 C could harm winter wheat in areas of Nebraska and Kansas that have only light snow cover.
Egypt’s central buying agency purchased 535,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine, Russia, Romania and France for a price of about $317 per tonne on a cost and freight basis.
Also, Algeria bought 500,000 to 550,000 tonnes today at prices of about $314-315 per tonne, cost and freight included.
Wheat’s strength helped corn post a small gain. Bargain buying and short covering was also a feature. Corn’s gains were limited by continuing concern about China’s rejection of American corn and dried distillers grain shipments because of the presence of a genetically modified variety not approved by Beijing.
Informa trimmed its outlook for U.S. corn production to 14.162 billion bu. from 14.223 billion. USDA’s forecast is 13.989 billion bu.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 133,519 tonnes of canola in the week ending Jan. 1, down 2.7 percent from the previous week.
The crush so far this crop year stands at about 2.82 million tonnes, down 235,599 tonnes from the same point last year. Most of the shortfall happened in August and September at the start of the crop year when there was almost no canola available to crush.
Over the past eight weeks, COPA crushers on average processed 142,873 tonnes of canola a week, up from 141,633 tonnes in the same period last year.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Jan 2014 433.10 +1.00 +0.23%
Canola Mar 2014 442.00 +0.60 +0.14%
Canola May 2014 450.80 +0.60 +0.13%
Canola Jul 2014 459.20 +0.70 +0.15%
Canola Nov 2014 472.30 +0.70 +0.15%
Milling Wheat Mar 2014 183.00 +2.00 +1.10%
Milling Wheat May 2014 191.00 +2.00 +1.06%
Milling Wheat Jul 2014 195.00 +2.00 +1.04%
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 1289.25 +2.25 +0.17%
Soybeans Mar 2014 1271.25 +1.25 +0.10%
Soybeans May 2014 1258.25 +1 +0.08%
Soybeans Jul 2014 1248.25 +2 +0.16%
Soybeans Aug 2014 1221 -0.25 -0.02%
Soybeans Sep 2014 1165.25 -1.25 -0.11%
Soybean Meal Jan 2014 424.5 +0.7 +0.17%
Soybean Meal Mar 2014 407.1 +0.8 +0.20%
Soybean Meal May 2014 400.1 +0.8 +0.20%
Soybean Oil Jan 2014 38.34 -0.17 -0.44%
Soybean Oil Mar 2014 38.6 -0.2 -0.52%
Soybean Oil May 2014 38.94 -0.21 -0.54%
Corn Mar 2014 423.5 +3 +0.71%
Corn May 2014 431.75 +2.75 +0.64%
Corn Jul 2014 438.75 +3 +0.69%
Corn Sep 2014 445 +3 +0.68%
Corn Dec 2014 452 +3.75 +0.84%
Oats Mar 2014 344.25 -6.75 -1.92%
Oats May 2014 320 -6 -1.84%
Oats Jul 2014 314.5 -5.75 -1.80%
Oats Sep 2014 307 -5.75 -1.84%
Oats Dec 2014 303 -1.5 -0.49%
Wheat Mar 2014 605.75 +8.75 +1.47%
Wheat May 2014 611.25 +7.5 +1.24%
Wheat Jul 2014 614.5 +6.25 +1.03%
Wheat Sep 2014 624.25 +6 +0.97%
Wheat Dec 2014 637.75 +5.5 +0.87%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Mar 2014 630.5 +5.25 +0.84%
Spring Wheat May 2014 640 +4.75 +0.75%
Spring Wheat Jul 2014 650.75 +4.5 +0.70%
Spring Wheat Sep 2014 660 +4.25 +0.65%
Spring Wheat Dec 2014 674.5 +4.25 +0.63%
Kansas City
KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 642.5 +11.25 +1.78%
KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 644.25 +10.25 +1.62%
KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 644 +9.25 +1.46%
KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 656.75 +9 +1.39%
KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2014 670.25 +8.5 +1.28%
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York dropped $1.48 at $93.96 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 94.22 cents US, up from 94.05 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0614 Cdn.
In early, unofficial tallies —
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed down 45.33 points, or 0.33 percent, at 13,548.86.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28.64 points or 0.17 percent, to 16,469.99,
The S&P 500 lost 0.62 points or 0.03 percent, to 1,831.36.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.163 points or 0.27 percent, to 4,131.906.
