Crop futures, including canola, rose Wednesday as the market switched to greater optimism about Europe addressing its debt problems.
It was a “risk on” day with equities, crude oil and commodities rising and the U.S. dollar weakening against a basket of currencies.
A widening grain delivery strike of farmers in Argentina is also supporting the crop futures market.
July canola closed $608.20, up $3.30.
November close at $561.30, up $1.40.
The loonie is stronger, offsetting some of the gain in canola. Lack of crusher buying also limited gains.
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German and European Union officials are urgently exploring way to rescue Spain’s debt burdened banks.
U.S. president Barack Obama and British prime minister David Cameron have agreed on the need for an “immediate plan” to tackle the euro zone crisis.
There is also a feeling that the recent market plunge is overdone and that the recent bad economic data will cause central banks to ramp up stimulus actions.
• Crop planting in Alberta was 93.5 percent complete as of May 31, slightly ahead of last year’s pace, Alberta Agriculture reported. Surface soil moisture conditions 74 percent rated good-to-excellent, up from 63 percent on May 17.
Rain today is improving soil moisture in the Peace region of northwestern Alberta.
Heavy rain and tornados in southern Alberta last night.
• The head of Algeria’s state grain agency said the North African country would import no more durum or barley in 2012.
Algeria is often one of the world’s largest durum buyers. It had a good domestic crop this year and the government has built stocks. Last year it had a terrible crop.
In the 2011-12 crop year to the end of April, Algeria imported 422,500 tonnes of Canadian durum and was the second largest customer after Italy.
Morocco, Algeria’s neighbour, did not have a good crop and is expected to be a good importer this year.
Morocco harvested about a million tonnes of durum this year, down from 1.85 million last year.
• The USDA agricultural attache in Moscow has forecasted Russsian grain production at 88 million tonnes, down from 94 million last year.
That includes 54 million tonnes of wheat, 16 million tonnes of barley and 6.5 million tonnes of corn.
With smaller carry in stocks, the country will be forced to reduce exports. All grain exports were pegged at 19 million tonnes, down from a record 27.1 million this year.
Of that, 16 million are forecast to be wheat, two million barley and 500,000 tonnes of corn.
On the other hand Reuters reports that the head of Russia’s crop weather forecasting unit believes that recent rain has stopped crop deterioration and that the grain crop will likely be only slightly smaller than last year. Yields could improve if weather is good from here on. Still, the small carry in will reduce the total volume of grain available.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Jul 12 $608.20, up 3.30 +0.55%
Canola Nov 12 $561.30, up 1.40 +0.25%
Canola Jan 13 $566.70, up 1.80 +0.32%
Canola Mar 13 $571.30, up 1.80 +0.32%
The previous day’s best basis in the par region was $14 over the July contract.
The relative strength index for the July contract was 47.5.
Western Barley Jul 12 $237.00, unchanged
Western Barley Oct 12 $210.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Oct 12 $252.70, unchanged
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $260.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $269.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Oct 12 $275.60, unchanged
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $280.10, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $286.70, unchanged
Barley Oct 12 $180.00, unchanged
Barley Dec 12 $183.50, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $186.50, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Jul 12 $13.8625, up 36.75 +2.72%
Soybeans (P) Aug 12 $13.6625, up 33.75 +2.53%
Soybeans (P) Sep 12 $13.2875, up 26.25 +2.02%
Soybeans (P) Nov 12 $12.9925, up 22.25 +1.74%
Corn (P) Jul 12 $5.8625, up 18.75 +3.30%
Corn (P) Sep 12 $5.275, up 11.5 +2.23%
Corn (P) Dec 12 $5.195, up 11.75 +2.31%
Oats (P) Jul 12 $2.9425, up 5.25 +1.82%
Oats (P) Sep 12 $2.9375, up 2.0 +0.69%
Oats (P) Dec 12 $2.8825, up 4.5 +1.59%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Jul 12 $7.44, up 15.25 cents +2.09%
Spring Wheat Sep 12 $7.425, up 12.5 +1.71%
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $7.495, up 10.0 +1.35%
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $7.5575, up 9.25 +1.24%
Nearby light crude oil in New York closed at $85.02, up 73 cents.
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the Canadian dollar is 97.12 cents US, up from 96.02 cents the day before. The U.S. dollar is $1.0297.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index unofficially ended up 125.69 points, or 1.09 percent, at 11,633.40.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 285.86 points, or 2.36 percent, at 12,413.81.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 29.54 points, or 2.30 percent, at 1,315.04.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 66.61 points, or 2.40 percent, at 2,844.72.
