Canola futures closed lower Friday, pressured by weaker vegetable oil futures and a pick up in farmer selling.
November dropped $3.70 today, wiping out most of the gains made earlier in the week, but the contract eked out an 80 cents gain over the close last Friday, Oct. 18.
Hedging pressure from elevator companies to cover farmer canola deliveries also weighed on canola. That basis appears to be narrowing a bit.
Selling related to roll out of the soon to expire November contract into the January contract also weighed on canola.
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Prairie Wheat Weekly Spring wheat prices decline
Western Canadian spring wheat prices were mostly lower, while those for durum were relatively steady during the week ended Aug. 14, 2025.
A further drop in the Canadian dollar limited losses in canola. A weaker U.S. buck against other currencies lessened the drop in Chicago futures. The Federal Reserve looks like it will continue its stimulus program for the foreseeable futures and that acts to weakens the U.S. buck and strengthens commodities and U.S. stocks.
• Oilseeds were weaker following new reports on Malaysia’s palm exports covering Oct. 1-25. One showed exports slowing in the latest week after strong movement earlier in the month. However, another cargo survey showed exports continued to increase. The strong exports earlier this month lessened worries about palm stock buildups and sparked a multiday rally in canola early this week.
Palm futures were a little lower on the news today, but asking prices are still stronger by $20 than they were a week ago.
• Soybeans were lower on Midwest harvest pressure.
Dry weather expected on the weekend will help advance the U.S. Midwest harvest but rain expected Tuesday will delay operations. The rain is expected to hit the central plains this weekend, helping newly seeded winter wheat. The central and southern plains have much better moisture conditions this year than last year at the same time.
• December oats were hammered down about three percent, partly on traders rolling out of the December contract. Small volumes can make big price moves in the lightly traded commodity.
• Crop markets have traded in a narrow range in recent weeks, partly because of the lack of USDA reports during the government shutdown. Also it is difficult to rally given the huge Canadian crop and better than expected yields in the U.S. Midwest. The range in corn has been particularly narrow. Normally this signals the strong possibility of a break out, but it is not clear if the break will be higher or lower.
Next Thursday’s US export reports, covering three weeks during the government shut down, could provide the spark for the break. The report for the week ending Oct. 3 released this week showed strong U.S. export and traders expect next week’s reports will follow that trend.
Otherwise we might have to wait for the Nov. 8 USDA supply and demand reports that will cover a two-month period because the October report was cancelled because of the shutdown.
• The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 139,302 tonnes of canola in the week ending Oct. 23.
That was down about five percent from the week before and represented a capacity use of about 80 percent.
• Wheat lost ground this week, probably because corn is holding it back, and because North American and European harvests were plentiful. Wheat had been rallying on concerns about a wet fall in the Black Sea region reducing the area seeded for next year. Dry weather in Argentina has limited the crop there. Recent rain has helped the situation a little but in northern areas the damage is expected to be irreversible.
The government last Friday released a wheat estimate of 8.8 million tonnes, which was lower than expected, but on Monday it pulled back that estimate, saying it would release an update. However, new data has not been released.
• There are also problems in eastern Australia with pockets of dryness and frost damage. There was another frost last night. Conditions are highly variable in the east but are generally good in Western Australia. One bank analyst this week lowered the forecast of the Australian crop. Commonwealth Bank of Australia cut its forecast by 1.6m tonnes to 23.6 million tonnes. The official government forecast in September was about 24.5 million tonnes.
• There is little market talk about dry weather in China’s winter wheat region. The dry conditions are problematic as farmers there seed the 2014 crop. The extent of the disruption is not clear though.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Nov 2013 485.40 -3.70 -0.76%
Canola Jan 2014 495.90 -4.10 -0.82%
Canola Mar 2014 503.90 -4.80 -0.94%
Canola May 2014 510.50 -5.10 -0.99%
Canola Jul 2014 516.10 -5.20 -1.00%
Milling Wheat Dec 2013 234.00 -2.00 -0.85%
Milling Wheat Mar 2014 243.00 +1.00 +0.41
Milling Wheat May 2014 250.00 +3.00 +1.21%
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 1300 -9.75 -0.74%
Soybeans Jan 2014 1293.5 -10.25 -0.79%
Soybeans Mar 2014 1272 -10 -0.78%
Soybeans May 2014 1255.5 -9 -0.71%
Soybeans Jul 2014 1249.75 -9.75 -0.77%
Soybeans Aug 2014 1237 -9.75 -0.78%
Soybean Meal Dec 2013 423.5 -2.5 -0.59%
Soybean Meal Jan 2014 414.1 -1.8 -0.43%
Soybean Meal Mar 2014 400.7 -1.8 -0.45%
Soybean Oil Dec 2013 40.73 -0.4 -0.97%
Soybean Oil Jan 2014 41.03 -0.4 -0.97%
Soybean Oil Mar 2014 41.4 -0.4 -0.96%
Corn Dec 2013 440 -0.25 -0.06%
Corn Mar 2014 452 -0.5 -0.11%
Corn May 2014 460.75 -0.25 -0.05%
Corn Jul 2014 468.25 -0.5 -0.11%
Corn Sep 2014 475 -0.25 -0.05%
Oats Dec 2013 333.25 -11 -3.20%
Oats Mar 2014 314.25 -6.5 -2.03%
Oats May 2014 313 -6.75 -2.11%
Oats Jul 2014 311 -9.25 -2.89%
Oats Sep 2014 312.5 -6.75 -2.11%
Wheat Dec 2013 690.75 -5.75 -0.83%
Wheat Mar 2014 701.75 -5.25 -0.74%
Wheat May 2014 707.5 -4.75 -0.67%
Wheat Jul 2014 701.5 -2.5 -0.36%
Wheat Sep 2014 709.5 unch 0.00%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Dec 2013 745 -7 -0.93%
Spring Wheat Mar 2014 755 -7.25 -0.95%
Spring Wheat May 2014 761.25 -5.75 -0.75%
Spring Wheat Jul 2014 764.5 -3.5 -0.46%
Spring Wheat Sep 2014 762.5 -0.5 -0.07%
Kansas City
KCBT Red Wheat Dec 2013 759 -5.25 -0.69%
KCBT Red Wheat Mar 2014 759 -4.5 -0.59%
KCBT Red Wheat May 2014 754.5 -5.25 -0.69%
KCBT Red Wheat Jul 2014 737 -6.75 -0.91%
KCBT Red Wheat Sep 2014 744 -3.75 -0.50%
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York rose 74 cents at $97.85 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 95.69 cents US, down from 95.95 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0450 Cdn.
In Toronto, energy and financial stocks led a broad-based rally and in the U.S. strong quarterly results at Microsoft and Amazon.com sparked a rally.
In early tallies —
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 75.64 points, or 0.57 percent, at 13,400.39.
It has gained more than one percent in each of the last three weeks and is at a two-year high.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 61.07 points, or 0.39 percent, at 15,570.28.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ended up 7.7 points, or 0.44 percent, at 1,759.77, and hit an intraday record high of 1,759.82 late in the session.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.40 points, or 0.37 percent, at 3,943.36.
For the week. The Dow rose 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.9 percent and Nasdaq 0.7 percent.
