Oilseeds fell Thursday on profit taking after strong gains in recent days.
Canola saw downward pressure from increased hedging linked to farmer selling.
U. S. Department of Agriculture said weekly old crop soybean export sales were only 20,800 tonnes. However, new crop sales were a healthy 950,300 tonnes.
Strong weekly U.S. corn sales helped nearby corn close up slightly.
But wheat fell as its weekly export pace slowed. Wheat was also pressured by light snow in part of China’s dry winter wheat region, the first moisture to hit the area in months.
See China television’s coverage of the snow:
http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20110210/105202.shtml 02010.shtml
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today again called on local govenments to do all they could to preserve the winter wheat and prepare for the spring planting season.
Wen announced the central government has set aside more money for irrigation equipment, subsidies for farm inputs, raised minimum price supports for some crops. It will also spend more on long term water storage projects.
About 19 million acres are affected by the drought, but only about four million are said to be seriously affected. China has large government-held stocks of wheat to fall back on if the crop is disappointing
In Winnipeg, March canola fell $5.40 to $611.70 per tonne on 9,098 trades.
May fell $5.30 to $620.50 on 5,174 trades.
The new crop November 2011 contract fell $8.50 to $596.50.
The previous day’s best basis was $12.80 under the March contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The March contract 14-day Relative Strength Index was 63. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
March barley futures were steady and untraded at $194. May and July were $205 per tonne.
Chicago March soybeans fell 18 cents to $14.33 per bushel.
March corn rose 0.5 cent to $6.985 per bu.
March oats fell 5.5 cents to $4.19 per bu.
March Minneapolis hard spring wheat fell 12.25 cents to $10.1475 per bu. New crop December fell 13 cents to $10.2575.
In New York, crude oil for March delivery fell two cents to $86.73 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0045 US, down from $1.0053 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 99.55 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index rose 56.27 points to 13,840.57.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.99 points to 1,321.87.
Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak today said he would delegate powers to the vice president, but he stopped short of resigning.
