Canola pressured by lower veg oil in pre-USDA report trade

Canola edged lower on Thursday pressured by technical selling as the January contract fell below the 30-day moving average.

January canola closed at $490.10, down 60 cents.

Weaker soy oil futures also weighed on canola, but soybeans edged higher thanks to strong weekly exports of the seed and meal.

Soy oil was pressured because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed banning artificial trans fats, often made from soy oil, in processed food.

On the other hand, moves in the past to limit trans fats have helped demand for canola oil.

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The USDA reported export sales of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 1.037 million tonnes (old and new crop years combined), near the high end of trade estimates for 800,000 to 1.1 million, Reuters reported.

Soy meal and soy oil exports were also strong.

Weekly corn exports also exceeded expectations but futures did not rise because of expectations that Friday’s USDA supply and demand report will raise the corn crop size forecast.

Hard spring and winter wheat edged lower with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the USDA report.

Weekly wheat exports were in line with expectations.

Here are the average of analysts’ estimates in a Reuters poll for crop production and stocks ahead of the big USDA report, which will be the first since September.

U.S. corn production: a record 14.003 billion bushels, up from the USDA forecast in September for 13.843 billion.

U.S. corn ending stocks: 2.029 billion bu., up from the USDA September forecast for 1.855 billion.

U.S soybean crop: 3.221 billion bu., topping USDA's September forecast of 3.149 billion. Ending stocks 172 million bu., up from 150 million in September.

Wheat ending stocks: 519 million bushels, the smallest in six years and down from 561 million in September.

Watch for our coverage of the USDA report at Producer.com and our Twitter feeds, @darcemcmillan and @westernproducer.

ICE Futures milling wheat, durum and barley did not trade but wheat was revised down by the exchange after the close of trade.

ICE Futures Canada, dollars per tonne

Canola Nov 2013 481.60 -0.60 -0.12%

Canola Jan 2014 490.10 -0.60 -0.12%

Canola Mar 2014 498.50 -0.50 -0.10%

Canola May 2014 504.80 -0.40 -0.08%

Canola Jul 2014 510.40 -0.70 -0.14%

Milling Wheat Dec 2013 219.00 -1.00 -0.45%

Milling Wheat Mar 2014 230.00 -1.00 -0.43%

Milling Wheat May 2014 238.00 -1.00 -0.42%

Durum Wheat Dec 2013 247.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Mar 2014 253.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat May 2014 257.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Dec 2013 152.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Mar 2014 154.00 unch 0.00%

Barley May 2014 155.00 unch 0.00%

American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound

Chicago

Soybeans Nov 2013 1278.75 +15.75 +1.25%

Soybeans Jan 2014 1266.5 +11.5 +0.92%

Soybeans Mar 2014 1248 +7.5 +0.60%

Soybeans May 2014 1234.25 +2.75 +0.22%

Soybeans Jul 2014 1230.25 +1.75 +0.14%

Soybeans Aug 2014 1215.5 unch 0.00%

Soybean Meal Dec 2013 403.8 +7 +1.76%

Soybean Meal Jan 2014 397.1 +7.2 +1.85%

Soybean Meal Mar 2014 386.2 +3.8 +0.99%

Soybean Oil Dec 2013 40.74 -0.4 -0.97%

Soybean Oil Jan 2014 41.05 -0.39 -0.94%

Soybean Oil Mar 2014 41.45 -0.36 -0.86%

Corn Dec 2013 420.5 -0.75 -0.18%

Corn Mar 2014 431.5 unch 0.00%

Corn May 2014 440 +0.5 +0.11%

Corn Jul 2014 446.75 +0.25 +0.06%

Corn Sep 2014 452.75 unch 0.00%

Oats Dec 2013 339 -4.5 -1.31%

Oats Mar 2014 314.5 -2.25 -0.71%

Oats May 2014 308 -0.75 -0.24%

Oats Jul 2014 306 +0.25 +0.08%

Oats Sep 2014 306.75 +0.25 +0.08%

Wheat Dec 2013 653 -0.25 -0.04%

Wheat Mar 2014 663.75 +1 +0.15%

Wheat May 2014 669.75 +1.5 +0.22%

Wheat Jul 2014 668.75 +1.5 +0.22%

Wheat Sep 2014 677.75 +1.5 +0.22%

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat Dec 2013 709.5 -2.75 -0.39%

Spring Wheat Mar 2014 720.25 -2.5 -0.35%

Spring Wheat May 2014 727 -2.75 -0.38%

Spring Wheat Jul 2014 732.75 -1.75 -0.24%

Spring Wheat Sep 2014 735.25 unch 0.00%

Kansas City

KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2013 712.5 -4 -0.56%

KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 715.25 -4.5 -0.63%

KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 714.5 -3.75 -0.52%

KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 706.75 -2.25 -0.32%

KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 715.5 -0.5 -0.07%

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell 60 cents at $94.20 US per barrel.

The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie was 95.77 cents US, down from 95.98 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0442 Cdn.

In a surprise move the European Central Bank trimmed interest rates. That lifted the U.S. dollar and weighed on commodity prices and natural resource stocks on he TSX.

Markets also retreated on profit taking after the Dow’s big move up on Wednesday.

Twitter’s IPO drew a lot of attention.

In unofficial tallies —

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed down 86.21 points, or 0.64 percent, at 13,294.20.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 151.30 points, or 0.96 percent, at 15,595.58.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 23.18 points, or 1.31 percent, at 1,747.31.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 74.61 points, or 1.90 percent, at 3,857.33.