Most crop futures fell Friday with markets giving back most of the gains posted on Thursday.
Poor U.S. weekly exports — wheat was the lowest in four months, soybeans the lowest in two months and net corn exports totaled only 14,200 tonnes, compared to 1.3 million tonnes in the same week last year — doused the optimism created from Thursday’s USDA report that confirmed extremely tight supplies of U.S. corn and soybeans. USDA also trimmed its world wheat production outlook.
Traders took profits Friday.
November canola closed at $606.70, down $14.50, or 2.33 percent.
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Compared to the close the previous Friday, the contract was down $1.80.
January canola closed at $605.60, down $14.40 from the day before.
Factors affecting canola prices include:
• Worries about tight canola supply after a disappointing harvest
• A strong Canadian dollar
• Strong, but not unlimited export demand. Canola prices are at the high end of the oilseed complex
• Weak global economic growth and signs that the European Union is falling back into recession
• Indications that South American countries will seed a record area to soybeans. Argentina and parts of Brazil have good moisture and a wet weather front is moving across dry central areas of Brazil today.
• A build up of palm oil stocks in No. 2 producer Malaysia. However, the government there today agreed to slash export taxes on crude palm oil to encourage sales and try to win back market share from No. 1 producer Indonesia.
Although crusher profit margins are down from this summer, processors are picking up the pace.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 155,437 tonnes of canola in the week ending Oct. 10, an increase of 1.7 percent.
That represents a capacity use of almost 94 percent, well ahead of the 85 percent at the same time last year.
Winnipeg (per tonne
Canola Nov 12 $606.70, down $14.50 -2.33%
Canola Jan 13 $605.60, down $14.40 -2.32%
Canola Mar 13 $602.80, down $12.40 -2.02%
Canola May 13 $595.80, down $13.00 -2.14%
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $297.40, down $5.60 -1.85%
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $306.90, down $5.60 -1.79%
Milling Wheat May 13 $309.90, down $5.60 -1.77%
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $312.40, down $0.60 -0.19%
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $319.00, down $0.60 -0.19%
Durum Wheat May 13 $323.00, down $0.60 -0.19%
Barley Dec 12 $250.00, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $253.00, unchanged
Barley May 13 $254.00, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Nov 12 $15.225, down 26.0 cents -1.68%
Soybeans (P) Jan 13 $15.22, down 26.5 -1.71%
Soybeans (P) Mar 13 $14.92, down 28.75 -1.89%
Soybeans (P) May 13 $14.4975, down 28.5 -1.93%
Corn (P) Dec 12 $7.5275, down 20.5 -2.65%
Corn (P) Mar 13 $7.5275, down 20.5 -2.65%
Corn (P) May 13 $7.4725, down 20.5 -2.67%
Oats (P) Dec 12 $3.92, up 3.5 +0.90%
Oats (P) Mar 13 $3.95, up 3.5 +0.89%
Oats (P) May 13 $3.935, up 3.25 +0.83%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $9.2425, down 22.5 cents -2.38%
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $9.3075, down 22.25 -2.33%
Spring Wheat May 13 $9.35, down 22.0 -2.30%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 $9.3425, down 20.5 -2.15%
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie is $1.0205 US, down from $1.0223 the day before.
The U.S. buck is 97.99 cents Cdn.
Nearby crude oil in New York closed at $91.86, down 21 cents
In early tallies:
Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index fell 31.91 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 12,202.04
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 12.54 points, or 0.09 percent, to 13,313.85.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 5.40 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,427.44.
The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 5.24 points, or 0.17 percent, to 3,044.17.
For the week, the TSX fell 1.75 percent, the Dow was down 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 fell 2.2 percent and the Nasdaq was down 2.9 percent.
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