Canola and most crop futures closed higher Thursday on good economic news from China and on reduced selling by American farmers as their harvest winds down.
U.S. farmers are moving into the last 20 percent of their harvest and deliveries from the combine have slowed.
November canola closed off its morning high point at $611.30, up $6.20, or 1.02 percent.
It trailed gains in soybeans, which closed up more than two percent.
Canola remains well supported by a smaller than expected crop and by export and domestic demand that is running ahead of last year’s pace.
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• China issued several reports measuring aspects of its economy and some pointed to a mild rebound.
Gross Domestic Product grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
That was down from the previous quarter and the seventh straight quarterly slowdown, however, it was in line with forecasts from economists polled by Reuters.
Industrial production, retail sales and investment data were all slightly ahead of forecasts.
The country posted annual economic growth of 7.7 percent in the first nine months of the year, setting it up to meet or exceed the government’s official 2012 target of 7.5 percent.
Domestic demand is growing, offsetting slower exports, in keeping with Beijing’s efforts to rebalance the economy towards domestic consumption.
• The U.S. weather service today issued a forecast for winter. It predicts that the drought that has plagued areas of the Midwest and central plains could expand westward into Montana, Idaho and part of Oregon and Washington.
The El Nino that was developing in the Pacific has subsided. That is exceptionally rare.
• Saskatchewan Agriculture today said the harvest in the province is all but complete. Quality is about average. It said 95 percent of canola is expected to fall within the top two grades, along with 77 percent of spring wheat and durum, 78 percent of lentils, and 89 percent of peas.
• European analyst Strategie Grains today updated it European production estimate. It said damage to the corn crop in eastern Europe was worse than expected and it lowered its estimate to 52.8 million tonnes, from 53.7 million in September. That is down 20 percent from the year before.
It also trimmed it soft wheat forecast to 123 million tonnes from 123.6 million.
• Weekly U.S. export sales for soybeans were below expectations; corn sales met expectations and wheat sales exceeded expectations, good news because wheat exports have been lagging.
Outstanding sales for wheat are 4.036 million tonnes, down from 4,577.2 million last year at the same time.
Corn sales are 7.56 million tonnes, down from 15.83 million last year.
Soybean sales are 19.79 million, up from 15.08 million tonnes.
The USDA expects corn exports will be down because of the small crop, but it expects wheat exports will exceed last year.
Winnipeg ICE (per tonne)
Canola Nov 12 $611.30, up 6.20 +1.02%
Canola Jan 13 $610.20, up 6.00 +0.99%
Canola Mar 13 $608.80, up 6.70 +1.11%
Canola May 13 $602.40, up 6.40 +1.07%
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $301.90, up 3.00 +1.00%
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $311.40, up 3.00 +0.97%
Milling Wheat May 13 $314.40, up 3.00 +0.96%
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $312.40, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $319.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat May 13 $323.00, unchanged
Barley Dec 12 $250.00, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $253.00, unchanged
Barley May 13 $254.00, unchanged
Chicago CBOT (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Nov 12 $15.455, up 36.25 +2.40%
Soybeans (P) Jan 13 $15.4625, up 38.0 +2.52%
Soybeans (P) Mar 13 $15.1975, up 35.5 +2.39%
Soybeans (P) May 13 $14.7575, up 30.5 +2.11%
Corn (P) Dec 12 $7.6075, up 15.25 +2.05%
Corn (P) Mar 13 7.5925, up 14.5 +1.95%
Corn (P) May 13 $7.54, up 14.75 +2.00%
Oats (P) Dec 12 $3.94, down 1.75 -0.44%
Oats (P) Mar 13 $3.98, down 0.5 -0.13%
Oats (P) May 13 $3.9625, down 0.5 -0.13%
Minneapolis MGEX (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $9.44, up 4.5 +0.48%
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $9.45, up 5.5 +0.59%
Spring Wheat May 13 $9.5125, up 8.5 +0.90%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 $9.49, up 7.25 +0.77%
The Bank of Canada’s noon rate for the loonie was $1.0196 US, down slightly from $1.0208 the day before.
The U.S. dollar was 98.08 cents Cdn.
Nearby crude oil in New York was down two cents at $92.10 per barrel.
Strong energy company share prices kept the TSX in positive territory, but U.S. stock indexes fell largely on disappointing quarterly profits at Google.
In early tallies:
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was 4.87 points, or 0.04 percent, higher to finish at 12,466.12.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 8.06 points, or 0.06 percent, to 13,548.94 at the close.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 3.57 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,457.34.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 31.26 points, or 1.01 percent, to close at 3,072.87.
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