News reports about potential changes to American biofuel policy, as well as a weaker loonie sparked a serious rally in canola futures Tuesday.
At one point May canola climbed as high as $531.40, but settled back and closed at $520.20, up $5.80 or 1.13 percent.
The news about American biofuel policy lifted grains across the board, with May corn closing up almost 1.5 percent, May soybeans up 1.35 percent and soy oil up almost four percent.
The activity attracted new investments from commodity funds.
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Reuters reported that sources said the Trump administration plans to revamp the American biofuel program to ease regulations on oil refiners while issuing new incentives for ethanol and biodiesel.
The head of the Renewable Fuels Association, Bob Dinneen, told Reuters the White House had informed him that Trump intends to sign an executive order shifting the obligation of blending biofuels into gasoline away from refiners and further down the supply chain “to position holders at the terminal.”
This was later denied by a White House spokesperson, but Dineen maintained the White House had “something in the works, but they’re not going to confirm it until they are ready to roll with it.” .
Refiners had long requested the change saying the country’s biofuels program hits them with burdensome costs.
One source said the trade group was also told that the executive order would include incentives for ethanol and biodiesel in a tradeoff for the blending shift, Reuters reported.
Those changes could include a waiver to allow greater volumes of ethanol to be blended into gasoline in the summer, a review of how the Environmental Protection Agency estimates emission impacts of biofuels, and support for a congressional tax credit for domestic producers of biodiesel, the source told Reuters.
A Bloomberg story had similar details.
Canola futures today were also supported by a weaker loonie, which was down about 0.8 cent at noon. Lower crude oil prices weighed down the loonie.
KANSAS WHEAT
The monthly state crop condition report from Kansas said winter wheat was 21 percent poor to very poor, 36 percent fair and 43 percent good to very good.
Top soil in the state is 55 percent short to very short.
Last year at this time conditions were better with only seven percent poor to very poor, 35 percent fair and 59 percent good to very good.
A year ago only 36 percent of land had short to very short top soil moisture.
Wheat crop conditions in Nebraska and Oklahoma are in somewhat better shape but are not as good as they were last year at this point.
Warm weather in the U.S. southern plains has caused the winter wheat crop to start coming out of dormancy early
SPRING SEEDING IN EUROPE
With a mild winter wrapping up and good weather across much of Europe, sowing operations are speeding ahead.
In France 17 percent of spring barley had already been seeded by Feb. 20, up from six percent at the same time last year.
TRUMP SPEECH
Markets waited an evening speech that President Trump plans to deliver tonight to Congress. The topics might include his infrastructure program, military spending, tax cut proposals and a program to replace Obama Care.
OUTSIDE MARKETS
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite closed down 64.27 points of 0.42 percent at 15,399.24
The Dow edged down 25.20 points or 0.1 percent to 20,812.24, the Nasdaq slid 36.46 points or 0.6 percent to 5,825.44 and the S&P 500 fell 6.11 points or 0.3 percent to 2,363.64.
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were down four cents to US$54.01 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was US75.48 cents, down from 76.33 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.3248.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Mar 17 518.60s +6.60 +1.29%
Canola May 17 520.20s +5.80 +1.13%
Canola Jul 17 523.00s +5.30 +1.02%
Canola Nov 17 499.40s +4.20 +0.85%
Canola Jan 18 505.10s +4.30 +0.86%
Milling Wheat Mar 17 229.00s +1.00 +0.44%
Milling Wheat May 17 234.00s +1.00 +0.43%
Milling Wheat Jul 17 235.00s unch unch
Durum Wheat Mar 17 279.00s unch unch
Durum Wheat May 17 282.00s unch unch
Durum Wheat Jul 17 280.00s -1.00 -0.36%
Barley Mar 17 135.00s unch unch
Barley May 17 137.00s unch unch
Barley Jul 17 138.00s unch unch
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans Mar 17 1025.00 +14.0 +1.38%
Soybeans May 17 1035.75 +13.75 +1.35%
Soybeans Jul 17 1044.5 +13.5 +1.31%
Soybeans Aug 17 1044.00 +13.5 +1.31%
Soybeans Sep 17 1029.50 +12.5 +1.23%
Soybean Meal Mar 17 332.6 +1.5 +0.45%
Soybean Meal May 17 336.4 +0.8 +0.24%
Soybean Meal Jul 17 339.4 +0.6 +0.18%
Soybean Oil Mar 17 33.69 +1.34 +4.14%
Soybean Oil May 17 33.93 +1.30 +3.98%
Soybean Oil Jul 17 34.19 +1.28 +3.89%
Corn Mar 17 366.75 +6.5 +1.80%
Corn May 17 373.75 +5.5 +1.49%
Corn Jul 17 381.00 +5.25 +1.40%
Corn Sep 17 387.25 +5.25 +1.37%
Corn Dec 17 393.7 +5.0 +1.29%
Oats Mar 17 258.00 +8.5 +3.41%
Oats May 17 244.25 +1.25 +0.51%
Oats Jul 17 240.25 -1.5 -0.62%
Oats Sep 17 233.25 +0.25 +0.11%
Oats Dec 17 236.00 +0.5 +0.21%
Wheat Mar 17 424.75 +6.0 +1.43%
Wheat May 17 443.75 +5.0 +1.14%
Wheat Jul 17 458.50 +5.25 +1.16%
Wheat Sep 17 473.25 +4.75 +1.01%
Wheat Dec 17 492.25 +4.75 +0.97%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Mar 17 539.75 +4.75- +0.89%
Spring Wheat May 17 550.20 +2.0 +0.36%
Spring Wheat Jul 17 555.50 +1.5 +0.27%
Spring Wheat Sep 17 560.75 unch unch
Spring Wheat Dec 17 571.00 unch unch
Kansas City
Hard Red Wheat Mar 17 451.25 +7.25 +1.63%
Hard Red Wheat May 17 463.5 +6.5 +1.42%
Hard Red Wheat Jul 17 475.00 +6.25 +1.33%
Hard Red Wheat Sep 17 489.00 +6.0 +1.24%
Hard Red Wheat Dec 17 508.50 +5.0 +0.99%
Chicago livestock futures in US¢/pound (rounded to two decimal places)
Live Cattle (Pit) Apr 17 117.925 +2.425 +2.10%
Live Cattle (Pit) Jun 17 107.550 +1.925 +1.82%
Live Cattle (Pit) Aug 17 102.425 +1.225 +1.21%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) Mar 17 125.075 +1.225 +0.99%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) Apr 17 124.700 +1.150 +0.93%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) May 17 124.725 +1.625 +1.32%
Lean Hogs (Pit) Apr 17 67.600 -0.525 -0.77%
Lean Hogs (Pit) May 17 73.950 -0.075 -0.10%
Lean Hogs (Pit) Jun 17 77.625 -0.025 -0.03%
