The hot Chicago market caused Winnipeg canola prices to climbe Friday despite a bearish Statistics Canada report issued in the morning.
A weak U.S. dollar and soaring wheat prices because of excessive rain in Australia drove soybeans higher, offsetting the effect of the StatsCan report that put the canola crop at 11.866 million tonnes.
That was up 14 percent from the last report in early October and above the trade’s average expectation of 11.2 million tonnes.
The crop is still smaller than last year’s 12.417 million tonnes.
Traders believe that strong demand will offset the negative price effects of the larger crop. Also the number does not take into account the amount of damaged crop that was harvested.
In Winnipeg, the January canola contract rose $6.20 to $553.30 per tonne on 13,257 trades. Over the week it rose 4.5 percent.
The March contract on Friday rose $6.20 to $559.50 on 6,888 trades.
The November 2011 contract rose $10.30 to $517.
The previous day’s best basis was $13.50 under the nearby contract.
The January contract 14-day Relative Strength Index was 60. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
December barley futures were steady at $188 per tonne. March rose $4 to $194.
Chicago January soybeans rose 20.5 cents to $13 US per bushel.
December corn rose 18.25 cents to $5.59 per bu.
December oats rose six cents to $3.67 per bu.
Minneapolis hard spring wheat rose 24 cents to $8.1725 per bu.
In New York, crude oil for January delivery rose $1.19 to $89.19 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 99.40 cents US, down from 99.54 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0060.
The TSX composite index rose 15.42 points to close at 13,178.95. Over the week it gained two percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 3.18 points to 1,224.71.
StatsCan put the all wheat crop at 23.167 million tonnes, up one million or four percent from October. Last year’s crop was 26.848 million tonnes.
Spring wheat was put at 17.485 million up six percent from October and durum at 3.024 million, down 0.6 percent from October.
Durum last year was 5.4 million tonnes.
News of the larger Canadian wheat crop did nothing to stop Minneapolis futures from climbing on worries about Australia’s wheat crop, which is being hit by too much rain as farmers there attempt to harvest.
StatsCan put the barley crop at 7.605 million tonnes, down eight percent from October.
Oats was at 2.298 million down one percent.
Flax was 423,000 tonnes, down 21.3 percent from early October.
The pea crop was put at 2.862 million tonnes up three percent from October
The lentil crop was put at 1.947 million tonnes, up 32 percent from October, but the report did not take into account the large amount crop that was downgraded to feed.
