Canola closed higher Friday, but the gain was not enough to prevent a $9.50 decline in the May contract over the week.
However, the November contract did not fall over the week.
Today May closed at $447.50 a tonne, up $6.40 or 1.45 percent. Over the week, it fell two percent.
November closed at $443.30, up $6.90 or 1.58 percent. That was steady with the close the previous Friday.
Canola gained today on ideas that Thursday’s drop was overdone. Also the loonie weakened a little today.
Lack of farmer selling is also underpinning canola, but gains are kept in check by the large South American soybean crop and expectations for a record large U.S. soy crop.
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The strong premium of the May canola contract over the new crop November price eroded a lot this week.
The Canadian Grain Commission said canola exports totaled 219,900 tonnes in the week ending April 12.
That marked the third consecutive week of exports topping 200,000 tonnes.
If they can average 200,000 or more over the rest of crop year they will easily achieve Agriculture Canada’s forecast of 9.2 million tonnes of exports.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 137,624 tonnes of canola in the week ending April 15, up 3.4 percent from the week before.
That represented a capacity use of 75.3 percent, less than the average to date of just over 82 percent.
The market awaits Statistics Canada’s grower survey on planting intentions, due April 23. There is a fairly wide range of expectations for canola acreage among traders and analysts.
Agriculture Canada today released an updated monthly supply and demand report. It was mostly unchanged, but it reduced the oats year end stocks forecast to 725,000 tonnes, down 100.000 tonnes reflecting the stronger pace of exports. With a smaller carry-in to 2015-16 it also reduced the carryout forecast for that year to 875,000 tonnes from 950,000 last month
Soybean futures rose today on technical buying and short covering.
In Brazil, truck drivers are again planning a strike for next week and that could interfere with soy deliveries to port.
However an AgRural analyst told Reuters that port terminals have four weeks of supply so the strike would have to last a long time before it really impeded exports.
For the week, front-month CBOT soybeans rose 1.7 percent, front-month CBOT soymeal gained 1.8 percent and front-month CBOT soyoil rose 1.2 percent.
Wheat futures were mixed, capping off what was a terrible week for prices after rain in the southern U.S. Plains rescued the hard red winter wheat crop there.
Kansas edged higher today on a technical bounce but Minneapolis spring wheat fell again on excellent planting conditions. The May Chicago soft wheat contract was unchanged but July fell a little.
Minneapolis and Kansas wheat contracts have fallen below the support line set by the low last September, but Chicago has remained above the autumn low.
Russia’s agriculture ministry proposed that the government cancel the wheat export tax when the new marketing year starts on July 1.
Over the week Chicago May wheat fell 32 cents, or about six percent, its second straight weekly decline.
Kansas City May wheat fell 49 ½ cents or 8.9 percent.
Minneapolis May spring wheat fell 48 ¼ cents or 8.3 percent.
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell 97 cents to US$55.74 per barrel.
May corn rose 3 ½ cents to close at $3.79 ¾ today. Excess rain and planting delays in the Mississippi Delta are providing modest support.
Over the week it gained 2 ¾ cents.
Over the week Brent crude oil rose 9.6 percent, the most in five years, and West Texas crude rose 7.9 percent, adding support to the Canadian loonie, which was also supported by comments from the governor of the Bank of Canada, who said there are signs the Canadian economy could get back on track without the need for lower interest rates.
The Canadian dollar at noon was US81.77 cents, down from 81.93 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.2229. Over the week the loonie rose about two cents.
Stock markets today were spooked as the Greek debt situation stormed back into the news. Greece is in a standoff with its Euro zone lenders and worries are building it might leave the common currency.
Also, China brought in new rules that might dampen the stock market there.
And some major U.S. corporations posted weaker than expected quarterly profits.
The TSX fell 26.22 points or 0.17 percent to close at 15,360.55.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 279.67 points, or 1.54 percent, to 17,826.1, the S&P 500 lost 23.92 points, or 1.14 percent, to 2,081.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 75.98 points, or 1.52 percent, to 4,931.81.
For the week the TSX composite fell 0.2 percent.
The Dow fell 1.3 percent, the S&P fell one percent and Nasdaq dropped 1.3 percent.
ICE Futures Canada, dollars per tonne
Canola May 2015 447.50 +6.40 +1.45%
Canola Jul 2015 451.20 +6.90 +1.55%
Canola Nov 2015 443.30 +6.90 +1.58%
Canola Jan 2016 444.50 +6.30 +1.44%
Canola Mar 2016 443.50 +6.30 +1.44%
Milling Wheat May 2015 213.00 -1.00 -0.47%
Milling Wheat Jul 2015 217.00 -1.00 -0.46%
Milling Wheat Oct 2015 221.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat May 2015 323.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Jul 2015 313.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Oct 2015 318.00 unch 0.00%
Barley May 2015 205.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Jul 2015 205.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Oct 2015 190.00 unch 0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans May 2015 968.75 +2.75 +0.28%
Soybeans Jul 2015 971.5 +2.5 +0.26%
Soybeans Aug 2015 968 +1 +0.10%
Soybeans Sep 2015 957.75 unch 0.00%
Soybeans Nov 2015 952.75 unch 0.00%
Soybeans Jan 2016 959 unch 0.00%
Soybean Meal May 2015 315 +2.6 +0.83%
Soybean Meal Jul 2015 314.7 +2.5 +0.80%
Soybean Meal Aug 2015 313.2 +2 +0.64%
Soybean Oil May 2015 31.52 -0.24 -0.76%
Soybean Oil Jul 2015 31.73 -0.24 -0.75%
Soybean Oil Aug 2015 31.76 -0.24 -0.75%
Corn May 2015 379.75 +3.5 +0.93%
Corn Jul 2015 386.75 +3.5 +0.91%
Corn Sep 2015 394 +3.25 +0.83%
Corn Dec 2015 403.25 +3 +0.75%
Corn Mar 2016 413 +2.5 +0.61%
Oats May 2015 262.5 +4.5 +1.74%
Oats Jul 2015 269 +5.5 +2.09%
Oats Sep 2015 275 +5.5 +2.04%
Oats Dec 2015 280.25 +5.25 +1.91%
Oats Mar 2016 284.5 +4.5 +1.61%
Wheat May 2015 494.5 unch 0.00%
Wheat Jul 2015 489.25 -1.5 -0.31%
Wheat Sep 2015 497.75 -1.5 -0.30%
Wheat Dec 2015 513.25 -1.5 -0.29%
Wheat Mar 2016 528 -1.5 -0.28%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat May 2015 532.75 -2.25 -0.42%
Spring Wheat Jul 2015 544.25 -2.25 -0.41%
Spring Wheat Sep 2015 554.25 -2 -0.36%
Spring Wheat Dec 2015 567 -1.25 -0.22%
Spring Wheat Mar 2016 581.5 -0.75 -0.13%
Kansas City
Hard Red Wheat May 2015 509.25 +1 +0.20%
Hard Red Wheat Jul 2015 514.75 +0.75 +0.15%
Hard Red Wheat Sep 2015 526 -0.5 -0.09%
Hard Red Wheat Dec 2015 543.75 unch 0.00%
Hard Red Wheat Mar 2016 556.75 unch 0.00%
