Statistics Canada showed just how gigantic this year’s Canadian crop is on Wednesday when it produced its final crop report of the year.
The report had bigger numbers than what most of the trade expected. Following the report the ICE Futures Canada canola futures fell to about $476.70 but by 9:10 CST had recovered back above $480 per tonne and appeared to be consolidating near that mark. It closed at $482.40 on Tuesday.
The Chicago wheat market was also down a little early despite concerns that cold weather could harm the U.S. hard red winter wheat crop. At about 10 am CST December was trading at $6.5125, down 2.5 cents from Tuesday’s close.
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EYE POPPING YIELDS
Average yields broke records by so much they can scarcely be believed.
Statistics Canada pegged canola production at 17.96 million tonnes, up two million tonnes from 15.963 million predicted in September. The crop is 29.5 percent larger than in 2012.
The number was at the high end of analysts’ pre-report forecasts.
The average yield was a record 40 bushels per acre, up 42.3 percent from last year, which more than offset a nine percent decline in harvested area.
The previous record yield was 35.3 bu. per acre set in 2009.
Saskatchewan’s average canola yield was 37.6 bu. per acre, Alberta was 43.7 bu. per acre and Manitoba 41 bu. per acre.
StatsCan pegged the all wheat crop at 37.53 million tonnes, up from 33.026 in September and up 38 percent from 2012.
The average production estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was 33.98 million tonnes.
StatsCan said the average national wheat yield was 53.4 bu. per acre. Spring wheat was 53 bu. per acre, durum 48.4 bu. per acres and winter wheat 70.3 bu. per acre.
The previous record spring wheat yield was 42.8 bu. per acre set in 2011.
Saskatchewan’s spring wheat yield this year was 48.1 bu. per acre. Alberta was 58.7 bu. per acre and Manitoba was 56.2 bu. per acre
StatsCan put barley at 10.237 million tonnes up 9.247 million in September and up 27.8 million from last year.
The national barley average yield was 71.7 bu. per acre. The previous record was 62.5 bu. per acre set in 2008.
Oats is 3.888 million tonnes, up from 3.163 million tonnes in September and up 38.3 percent from 2012.
Oats area increased 12.5 percent over last year and the yield rose to a record 92.1 bu. per acre. The previous record was 77.8 bu. per acres set in 2009.
Eagerness to sell and transport this huge crop has been frustrated. Even though the country’s two major railways are moving record quantities of crop this fall, they are falling well short of the orders for railcars.
Today’s StatsCan report was based on interviews with 33,400 farmers from Oct. 26 to Nov. 13.
