The weak loonie continued to support canola futures Friday while stronger than expected weekly export sales lifted corn.
The weak loonie makes Canadian canola seed, oil and meal more attractive than American soy products and that has been supporting canola futures this week.
March canola closed the week at $461.50 percent, down 70 cents on the day but up $10.90 over the week.
May canola closed at $455.60, up $2.20 on the day and up $9.20 on the week.
March canola was up 2.4 percent during the week while March soybeans fell 1.9 percent. For the week, soymeal was up 1.4 percent and soyoil was down 5.3 percent.
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The loonie fell 0.2 cent today but was down 2.8 cents from last Friday, with weakness stemming from a surprise cut in the Bank of Canada lending rate and weakness in crude oil values.
Canola today was also supported by new export business and speculative buying.
Trading volume is shifting to the May contract.
Today there were more than 11,000 trades in May and 9,635 trades in March.
Some canola buyers are already using the May contract to calculate their cash and basis bids.
There appears to be fairly wide basis for nearby delivery but much narrower basis for delivery this spring.
Analyst John DePape in a posting at www.agriville.com noted today that the inverse between March and May canola contracts is not due to tight stocks in the system. It is more associated with reduced threat of delivery on the nearby contract.
In other news, Canadian crushers are scaling up to take advantage of the weaker loonie, even as canola futures rise.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 153,102 tonnes of canola in the week ending Jan. 21, up 5.3 percent from the week before and a six month high.
That represented a capacity use of 83.8 percent, exceeding the cumulative rate of 81.2 percent so far this crop year.
Despite the strong American buck, weekly export sales of U.S. corn were a robust 2.19 million tonnes, topping analysts’ forecasts that ranged from 800,000 to one million tonnes.
It was the strongest sales in a single week in seven years. That helped corn edge up today but over the week the nearby contract dipped 0.1 percent.
It was the opposite situation in soybeans, where export sales totaled only 115,300 tonnes, below forecasts ranging from 400,000 to 700,000 tonnes.
Analysts expect international buyers will start to switch to South American supplies as they become available.
Wheat export sales totaled 564,400 tonnes, beating trade expectations.
That helped to lift Minneapolis spring wheat futures slightly but Kansas hard red winter and Chicago soft red winter were lower.
For the week, the front-month CBOT soft red winter wheat contract shed 0.7 percent, its fifth straight week of losses.
Hard red winter wheat dropped 2.5 percent this week and Minneapolis spring wheat was 1.5 percent lower.
The rising U.S. dollar weighs on U.S. commodities generally.
The euro fell to fresh 11-year lows against the dollar on Friday following the European Central Bank’s announcement on Thursday that it would pump a trillion euros into the euro zone economy to revive sagging growth and ward off deflation.
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were down 72 cents to US$45.59 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was US80.63 cents, down from US80.83 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.2403.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 15.37 points, or 0.1 percent, at 14,779.35.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 141.38 points, or 0.79 percent, to 17,672.6, the S&P 500 lost 11.33 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,051.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added 7.48 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,757.88.
For the week, the TSX climbed 3.3 percent, the Dow rose 0.9 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq gained 2.7 percent. It was the first positive week for major indexes in the last four.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Mar 2015 461.50 -0.70 -0.15%
Canola May 2015 455.60 +2.20 +0.49%
Canola Jul 2015 448.90 +1.60 +0.36%
Canola Nov 2015 436.10 -0.70 -0.16%
Canola Jan 2016 438.00 -0.10 -0.02%
Milling Wheat Mar 2015 220.00 unch 0.00%
Milling Wheat May 2015 223.00 unch 0.00%
Milling Wheat Jul 2015 226.00 +1.00 +0.44%
Durum Wheat Mar 2015 363.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat May 2015 353.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Jul 2015 343.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Mar 2015 195.00 unch 0.00%
Barley May 2015 197.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Jul 2015 199.00 unch 0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans Mar 2015 972.75 -4 -0.41%
Soybeans May 2015 979.5 -3.5 -0.36%
Soybeans Jul 2015 985.25 -3.5 -0.35%
Soybeans Aug 2015 985.5 -3.25 -0.33%
Soybeans Sep 2015 971 -2.25 -0.23%
Soybeans Nov 2015 959.75 -1.25 -0.13%
Soybean Meal Mar 2015 331.5 +1.4 +0.42%
Soybean Meal May 2015 323.7 +1.1 +0.34%
Soybean Meal Jul 2015 321.9 +0.7 +0.22%
Soybean Oil Mar 2015 31.6 -0.37 -1.16%
Soybean Oil May 2015 31.79 -0.37 -1.15%
Soybean Oil Jul 2015 31.99 -0.36 -1.11%
Corn Mar 2015 386.75 +3 +0.78%
Corn May 2015 395.25 +3.25 +0.83%
Corn Jul 2015 402.75 +3.5 +0.88%
Corn Sep 2015 409.25 +4 +0.99%
Corn Dec 2015 417.25 +4 +0.97%
Oats Mar 2015 290.5 -0.5 -0.17%
Oats May 2015 294 -0.75 -0.25%
Oats Jul 2015 298.25 -1 -0.33%
Oats Sep 2015 300.5 -0.5 -0.17%
Oats Dec 2015 296.25 -2 -0.67%
Wheat Mar 2015 530 -3.75 -0.70%
Wheat May 2015 532.75 -4.5 -0.84%
Wheat Jul 2015 536.5 -4.25 -0.79%
Wheat Sep 2015 544.25 -4.25 -0.77%
Wheat Dec 2015 555.75 -4.5 -0.80%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Mar 2015 576 +0.5 +0.09%
Spring Wheat May 2015 582.5 +0.75 +0.13%
Spring Wheat Jul 2015 590.75 +0.5 +0.08%
Spring Wheat Sep 2015 598.5 +0.75 +0.13%
Spring Wheat Dec 2015 608 +0.25 +0.04%
Kansas City
Hard Red Wheat Mar 2015 564 -0.75 -0.13%
Hard Red Wheat May 2015 569 -0.5 -0.09%
Hard Red Wheat Jul 2015 572.25 -0.75 -0.13%
Hard Red Wheat Sep 2015 583.75 -0.5 -0.09%
Hard Red Wheat Dec 2015 598 -0.5 -0.08%
