Canola posted small gains Friday, capping a week when the July contract fell $2.60 per tonne.
Over the week the November contract fell $3 per tonne.
All the week’s loses occurred on Monday, when markets were moved by news that Russia would re-enter the export market after being out since last year due to drought, and light rain in Western Europe.
Also, domestic crushers were buying little because of weak canola processing profits.
Since then, canola clawed back lost ground on thoughts that not all intended acres in Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan would be seeded due to excess moisture.
Canola was also supported by rising soybeans, lifted by similar concerns about late and prevented seeding.
Dry areas of central and western Saskatchewan got welcome showers yesterday and overnight.
Spring wheat futures rose Friday. For the week, Minneapolis wheat was up 1.6 percent while the benchmark CBOT contract dropped 5.7 percent. The Russian news hit Chicago harder because the type of wheat traded there is more similar to Russia’s production. Spring wheat was supported by seeding delays and by flooding in the U.S. that is causing delivery problems.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to increase flows on the Missouri River to relieve pressure on upstream reservoirs that are full with runoff and rainwater. That could cause some flooding that might take out some seeded fields in South Dakota, Nebraska and western Iowa.
Corn fell on Friday on forecasts for drier weather in the eastern corn belt that should allow better seeding progress.
Poor profit margins in canola crushing showed up in the weekly report of the Canola Oilseed Processors Association today. It said members crushed 90,830 tonnes of canola in the week ending June 1, down 22 percent from the previous week.
The bad weather affecting seeding allowed crop markets to do better than other commodities and equities, which were burdened all week by bad news about the American economy.
On Friday the U.S. government reported employers hired the fewest number of workers in eight months in May and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Jul 11 $597.10, up $1.70
Canola Nov 11 $599.80, up 40 cents
Canola Jan 12 $607.60, up 20 cents
Canola Mar 12 $614.20, up 20 cents
The previous day’s best basis was $15 under the July contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The July contract’s 14-day Relative Strength Index was 64. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
Western Barley Jul 11 $205, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Jul 11 $14.145, up 7.5 cents
Soybeans Aug 11 $14.075, up 7.0
Soybeans Nov 11 $13.97, up 4.25
Corn Jul 11 $7.54, down 12.5
Corn Dec 11 $6.8625, down 8.75
Oats Jul 11 $3.78, down 2.0
Oats Dec 11 $3.95, down 0.5
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Jul 11 $10.605, up 41 cents
Spring Wheat Sep 11 $9.935, up 6.25
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.925, up 2.75
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell 18 cents to $100.22 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0235 US, up from $1.0211 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 97.70 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index closed down 1.59 points at 13,517.91.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 index fell 12.78 points, or 0.97 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,300.16.
For the week, the TSX composite was down two percent and each of the three major U.S. indexes was down 2.3 percent.
