Canola futures fell about a half a percentage point Wednesday along with other sagging crop futures.
Only oats posted gains. That market reflects the tight supply situation at the contract’s delivery point in the U.S., not the wider supply and demand situation.
Crop markets were pressured down by generally favourable weather in South America’s soy growing areas. Argentina got needed grain in recent days. The USDA agricultural attaché in Brazil raised that station’s outlook for the country’s crop to 89.5 million tonnes. The official USDA forecast is 89 million. A Reuters story said excellent production prospects in the top producing state Mato Grosso are offsetting some weakness in smaller producing states.
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U.S. grains: Soybean futures set two-week high on US weather worry, soyoil rally
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures touched a two-week high on Friday on worries that heat may threaten U.S. crops and expectations that the country’s biofuel policy would boost demand for soyoil, analysts said.
The story quoted Andre Pessoa, lead analysts for Brazilian consultancy Agroconsult as saying “Is it 90 million tonnes or more? It sure is!”
Argentinean farmers have held back from selling soy recently because of the falling currency there, but they will have to resume sales soon to make room for the coming harvest.
Rumours circulated that China canceled purchases of 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans.
March Chicago wheat fell 2.6 percent, with the downward momentum increasing after the price fell below a chart-based support level. The front month Minneapolis wheat contract fell below $6 a bushel for the first time since July 2010.
Snow is expected later this week in the U.S. winter wheat growing areas. It will provide insulation for the dormant crop. It has been unusually cold over much of the Midwest and Plains, leading to talk of damage risk for those pockets without snow.
The weakness in wheat and soybeans encouraged profit taking in corn.
Prairie farmers are increasingly frustrated with the inability of the railways to keep up with the unprecedented demand for grain cars to move the record crop to port and end users. Some are trying to use producer cars or trucks to ship to the U.S. but there are difficulties there too, such as finding available trucks and getting a back haul to make the trip affordable.
The U.S. Federal Reserve today agreed to cut its bond buying stimulus program by another $10 billion a month, reducing it to $65 billion. Stock markets fell as traders worried about the effects of the stimulus cuts on emerging economies outside the developed countries of North America, Europe and Japan.
The prospect of rising interest rates in the United States has investors pulling out of emerging market currencies and stock markets. The Turkish central bank this week about doubled interest rates to stabilize its crashing currency.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Mar 2014 423.80 -2.60 -0.61%
Canola May 2014 433.90 -2.40 -0.55%
Canola Jul 2014 442.90 -2.20 -0.49%
Canola Nov 2014 458.80 -1.90 -0.41%
Canola Jan 2015 464.30 -1.90 -0.41%
Milling Wheat Mar 2014 177.00 -2.00 -1.12%
Milling Wheat May 2014 182.00 -3.00 -1.62%
Milling Wheat Jul 2014 185.00 -4.00 -2.12%
Durum Wheat Mar 2014 245.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat May 2014 249.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Jul 2014 250.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Mar 2014 126.50 unch 0.00%
Barley May 2014 128.50 unch 0.00%
Barley Jul 2014 128.50 unch 0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans Mar 2014 1269.25 -16.25 -1.26%
Soybeans May 2014 1256.75 -14.25 -1.12%
Soybeans Jul 2014 1242.5 -14.5 -1.15%
Soybeans Aug 2014 1203.25 -13.5 -1.11%
Soybeans Sep 2014 1138.5 -11.25 -0.98%
Soybeans Nov 2014 1097.75 -7.25 -0.66%
Soybean Meal Mar 2014 423.3 -5.3 -1.24%
Soybean Meal May 2014 409.2 -4.2 -1.02%
Soybean Meal Jul 2014 399.4 -4.3 -1.07%
Soybean Oil Mar 2014 37.1 -0.3 -0.80%
Soybean Oil May 2014 37.41 -0.31 -0.82%
Soybean Oil Jul 2014 37.74 -0.32 -0.84%
Corn Mar 2014 427.5 -4.5 -1.04%
Corn May 2014 434 -4 -0.91%
Corn Jul 2014 439.25 -4 -0.90%
Corn Sep 2014 442 -3.75 -0.84%
Corn Dec 2014 446.75 -4 -0.89%
Oats Mar 2014 421.25 +6.25 +1.51%
Oats May 2014 378.5 +7.75 +2.09%
Oats Jul 2014 354.75 +1 +0.28%
Oats Sep 2014 318.5 +6.5 +2.08%
Oats Dec 2014 300 +4.5 +1.52%
Wheat Mar 2014 551.5 -14.5 -2.56%
Wheat May 2014 556 -16.25 -2.84%
Wheat Jul 2014 559.5 -17.75 -3.07%
Wheat Sep 2014 567.75 -17.75 -3.03%
Wheat Dec 2014 580.25 -18 -3.01%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Mar 2014 598 -7 -1.16%
Spring Wheat May 2014 599.5 -8.75 -1.44%
Spring Wheat Jul 2014 608.5 -9.25 -1.50%
Spring Wheat Sep 2014 618 -8.5 -1.36%
Spring Wheat Dec 2014 630.75 -8.5 -1.33%
Kansas City
KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 608.75 -13.25 -2.13%
KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 606.25 -13.75 -2.22%
KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 599.75 -16.5 -2.68%
KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 609 -16.75 -2.68%
KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2014 622 -16.75 -2.62%
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York dropped five cents at $97.36 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 89.70 cents US, unchanged from the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon remained at $1.1148 Cdn.
In unofficial tallies —
The TSX composite fell 44.44 points or 0.32 percent to 13.643.22.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 189.71 points, or 1.19 percent, to close at 15,738.85.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sagged 18.30 points, or 1.02 percent, to end at 1,774.20.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 46.53 points, or 1.14 percent, to close at 4,051.43.
