Old crop canola futures rose Thursday on slow farmer deliveries but new crop dipped, weighed down by soybeans.
Despite good weekly exports, U.S. soybean values fell again as the South American harvest forged ahead.
A Brazilian dockworkers strike planned for March 19 has been postponed to allow for more negotiations. The next potential strike date is March 26.
Falling crush margins in China are sapping that country’s immediate demand for soybeans.
The March canola contract expired. May closed at $623.10 up $1.90. New crop November closed at $553.00, down 40 cents. A half-cent gain in the loonie weighed on prices.
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The pace of Canadian canola exports is well down from last year at this time due to tight stocks and relatively high prices.
Exports might fall to near zero in the final months of the crop year unless the canola crop was larger than the Statistics Canada estimate.
•USDA on Thursday said 888,500 tonnes of old-crop U.S. wheat were sold for export last week, above expectation for 500,000 tonnes. New-crop sales totaled 198,500 tonnes, below estimates for 250,000 tonnes.
•It put old crop corn exports at 282,300 tonnes, above estimates for 150,000 tonnes. New-crop sales totaled 371,000 tonnes, above estimates for 250,000 tonnes.
Weekly export sales of soybeans were within the range of pre report estimates. The pace of U.S. soy exports is ahead of the rate needed to meet the USDA’s export forecast.
• Russia is hoping for a revived wheat crop after poor production last year. That will make more wheat potentially available for export, but the total might be reduced because the government plans to replenish government-owned stocks. They were drawn down this year to check rising prices.
• French analyst Strategie Grains trimmed its forecast for 2013-14 European Union wheat production but maintained that the crop will be about five percent larger than last year.
It now pegs soft wheat production at 131.6 million tonnes, down 600,000 tonnes from last month. The trimming reflected reduced seeding in Britain, which has saturated soils after an extremely wet winter.
• Strategie Grains pegged the barley crop at 55.1 million tonnes, the same as last month and up ne percent from last year.
The corn crop was increased to 66 million tonnes, up from 55.5 million last month and up 16 percent from last year.
• More moisture is forecast for the U.S. Plains late this weekend. Not surprisingly, the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor shows a bit of improvement with the areas in severe and exceptional drought reduced slightly.
Winnipeg ICE Futures (dollars per tonne)
Canola May 13 623.10 +1.90 +0.31%
Canola Jul 13 610.50 +1.40 +0.23%
Canola Nov 13 553.00 -0.40 -0.07%
Canola Jan 14 552.60 +0.70 +0.13%
Milling Wheat May 13 292.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Jul 13 294.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Oct 13 294.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Dec 13 294, unchanged
Durum Wheat May 13 311.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Jul 13 314.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Oct 13 299.30, unchanged
Durum Wheat Dec 13 301.00, unchanged
Barley May 13 243.00, unchanged
Barley Jul 13 243.50, unchanged
Barley Oct 13 243.50, unchanged
Barley Dec 13 243.50, unchanged
American crop priced in cents per bushel
Chicago
Soybeans (P) May 13 1435.5 -11.5 -0.79%
Soybeans (P) Jul 13 1416 -9.0 -0.63%
Soybeans (P) Aug 13 1375.75 -7.0 -0.51%
Soybeans (P) Sep 13 1301.5 -6.5 -0.50%
Soybeans (P) Nov 13 1259.75 -2.75 -0.22%
Soybeans (P) Jan 14 1263.75 -2.75 -0.22%
Corn (P) May 13 716.5 +7.0 +0.99%
Corn (P) Jul 13 698.5 +6.25 +0.90%
Corn (P) Sep 13 584 +4.75 +0.82%
Corn (P) Dec 13 559.25 +4.25 +0.77%
Corn (P) Mar 14 569 +4.5 +0.80%
Oats (P) May 13 396.5 +4.25 +1.08%
Oats (P) Jul 13 385.25 +2.75 +0.72%
Oats (P) Sep 13 373.75 +1.5 +0.40%
Oats (P) Dec 13 365.75 +0.25 +0.07%
Oats (P) Mar 14 377.75 +0.25 +0.07%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat May 13 801 +5.5 +0.69%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 799.75 +4.5 +0.57%
Spring Wheat Sep 13 799.5 +5.5 +0.69%
Spring Wheat Dec 13 804.25 +5.5 +0.69%
Spring Wheat Mar 14 815.5 +5.25 +0.65%
Nearby crude oil in New York rose 51 cents to close at $93.03.
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie was 97.46 cents US, up from 97.34 on Wednesday. It closed at 97.82 cents, a gain of a half cent from the day before The U.S. buck at the close was $1.0223.
Weekly U.S. jobless claim data showed a third straight weekly drop indicating stronger labour market conditions.
The TSX closed at 12,799.91, up 55.80 points, or 0.44 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 83.86 points, or 0.58 percent, to end at 14,539.14.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 8.71 points, or 0.56 percent, to finish y at 1,563.23 – about 2 points shy of its record closing high set in October 2007.
The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13.81 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 3,258.93.
