Winnipeg canola futures on Wednesday hung onto gains made Tuesday as weather problems and currency fluctuation continued to dominate the market.
November canola settled at $389 per tonne, up 60 cents from Tuesday, on a volume of 9,332 contracts.
January closed at $392.80, up 50 cents, with a volume of 8,344 contracts.
At noon, one loonie was worth 97.16 cents US, up from 97.1 cents on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar was at $1.0292 Cdn on Wednesday, down from $1.0298 on Tuesday.
Manitoba’s provincial crop report today said 70 to 80 percent of canola had been harvested. Rain and snow in recent days has delayed harvest of the remainder.
Alberta’s crop report, also issued today, said 83 percent of canola was in the bin. While Alberta cereal yields are well below average, Alberta Agriculture said canola yields were only slightly below average and 77 percent could reach the top grade.
Despite the challenges of poor weather early in the growing season, early prairie-wide tests by the Canadian Grain Commission show No. 1 canola averaging 44.8 percent oil content, up from 44.3 percent last year and the 10-year average of 42.5 percent.
Environment Canada is forecasting sunny dry but cool weather this weekend continuing into early next week. The long-range outlook is dry.
The forecast for the United States is for drier on the weekend and early next week but wet weather returning in the middle of the week.
