Despite a sharp rise in the Canadian dollar, Winnipeg canola futures rose on Tuesday, supported by a rising soybean market spooked by harvest delays.
The U.S. Midwest harvest has only just begun and a fair percentage of corn and soybean crops are not yet fully mature, raising the possibility of damage if the forecast for freezing temperatures comes true.
November canola settled at $373.50 per tonne, up $2.30 on volume of 7,805 contracts.
January closed at $379, up $2.80 on a volume of 3,156 contracts.
At noon, one loonie was worth 94.4 cents US, up from 92.96 on Monday. The U.S. dollar was at $1.0571 Cdn, down from $1.0757 on Monday.
That was the highest the loonie has been relative to the U.S. buck in a year.
One factor in the currency market was talk from Middle East oil producers about the possibility of pricing oil in a different currency that the U.S. dollar. Also, Australia’s central bank raised its interest rate raising speculation that Canada might follow suit.
Salmonella continues to be a problem for canola meal exports to the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration refused 13 shipments of Canadian canola meal that contained salmonella in August and September, all from plants owned by Bunge Ltd, the FDA’s website showed. For more in-depth coverage of this issue see the Markets section in this week’s Western Producer.
The November Western barley contract closed at $151 per tonne, up $1.40. January barley closed steady at $157.60
