Canola futures edged lower for a second day Tuesday pressured by a slightly stronger loonie and a dip in soybeans, while wheat edged higher.
Trade in most crop futures is lackluster with prices changing in only a narrow range and is likely to continue so as long as there is no major new news that would alter the current mind set of ample global grain supply.
Trade generally is expected to be listless this week as American market participants prepare for Thanksgiving on Thursday.
RADIOACTIVE RUSSIA?
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Feed Grains Weekly: Price likely to keep stepping back
As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
A bit of surprising news did come from Russia today. The country’s meteorological service said it had measured pollution of a radioactive isotope at nearly 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural mountains, Reuters reported.
The data backed up reports that there had been a nuclear incident in Russia or Kazakhstan in the last week of September.
The situation brought back memories of the Chernobyl melt down in 1986 that did cause contamination of significant amounts of crops.
But many traders believe this situation is not comparable and chalked up today’s rally in wheat simply to short covering and mild concern about dry weather in the U.S. southern plains.
US WHEAT CONDITION
Monday’s crop condition report from the USDA put the good to excellent rating for the winter wheat crop at 52 percent, down from 54 percent the week before. Last year it was 58 percent.
However, there is not much of a correlation between crop conditions in the fall and final production. Much depends on rain once the crop comes out of dormancy next year.
VEG OILS
Soybean oil partly rebounded from Monday’s decline, which was linked to India raising its import duty on palm oil to the highest level in a decade. The move could hurt palm oil exports from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Like with pulses, India has a surplus this year of domestically produced rapeseed and soybeans. It wants to limit cheap imports so as to use up the surplus of domestic product.
Forecasts for the palm oil market in the final months of this year had recently improved as production did not rise as much as expected.
However, this move by India is taking the shine off that outlook and prices in Malaysia hit the lowest level since mid August.
OUTSIDE MARKETS
Oil prices rose as traders looked ahead to a meeting next week at which major crude exporters are expected to extend production cuts.
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York were up 41 cents at US$56.83 per barrel.
In the afternoon, the Canadian dollar was trading around US78.25 cents, up from 78.00 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar was C$1.278.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 72.25 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 16,076.65.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 160.5 points, or 0.69 percent, to 23,590.83, the S&P 500 rose 16.89 points, or 0.65 percent, to 2,599.03 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 71.76 points, or 1.06 percent, to 6,862.48.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne.
Canola Jan 18 515.10s -0.90 -0.17%
Canola Mar 18 523.10s -1.00 -0.19%
Canola May 18 527.50s -0.60 -0.11%
Canola Jul 18 530.10s -0.70 -0.13%
Canola Nov 18 505.10s -0.60 -0.12%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound. Prices are displayed with fractions (2/8, 4/8, and 6/8) instead of decimals. -2 equals .25, -4 equals .50, -6 equals .75. The “s” means it is the settlement.
Chicago
Soybeans Jan 18 989-0s -1-0 -0.10%
Soybeans Mar 18 1000-2s -1-0 -0.10%
Soybeans May 18 1010-0s -0-6 -0.07%
Soybeans Jul 18 1018-0s -1-2 -0.12%
Soybeans Aug 18 1018-6s -1-2 -0.12%
Soybean Meal Dec 17 318.3s -1.5 -0.47%
Soybean Meal Jan 18 320.4s -1.6 -0.50%
Soybean Meal Mar 18 323.8s -1.5 -0.46%
Soybean Oil Dec 17 34.17s +0.22 +0.65%
Soybean Oil Jan 18 34.32s +0.22 +0.65%
Soybean Oil Mar 18 34.53s +0.20 +0.58%
Corn Dec 17 345-0s unch unch
Corn Mar 18 356-2s -0-2 -0.07%
Corn May 18 364-4s -0-2 -0.07%
Corn Jul 18 372-2s -0-2 -0.07%
Corn Sep 18 379-4s unch unch
Oats Dec 17 255-6s +0-6 +0.29%
Oats Mar 18 271-4s +0-4 +0.18%
Oats May 18 278-4s +0-4 +0.18%
Oats Jul 18 283-6s +1-0 +0.35%
Oats Sep 18 282-6s +2-0 +0.71%
Wheat Dec 17 424-6s +2-6 +0.65%
Wheat Mar 18 441-2s +2-6 +0.63%
Wheat May 18 453-0s +3-2 +0.72%
Wheat Jul 18 466-2s +4-0 +0.87%
Wheat Sep 18 480-4s +4-0 +0.84%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Dec 17 627-0s +0-6 +0.12%
Spring Wheat Mar 18 641-2s +1-4 +0.23%
Spring Wheat May 18 646-6s +0-6 +0.12%
Spring Wheat Jul 18 648-4s +0-2 +0.04%
Spring Wheat Sep 18 635-2s +1-2 +0.20%
Kansas
Hard Red Wheat Dec 17 420-2s +4-2 +1.02%
Hard Red Wheat Mar 18 437-6s +4-0 +0.92%
Hard Red Wheat May 18 450-4s +4-2 +0.95%
Hard Red Wheat Jul 18 468-2s +4-2 +0.92%
Hard Red Wheat Sep 18 485-4s +4-2 +0.88%
Chicago livestock futures in US¢/pound, Pit trade
Live Cattle (Pit) Dec 17 117.975s +0.875 +0.75%
Live Cattle (Pit) Feb 18 124.050s +1.025 +0.83%
Live Cattle (Pit) Apr 18 124.800s +1.100 +0.89%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) Jan 18 151.625s +2.075 +1.39%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) Mar 18 149.825s +1.775 +1.20%
Feeder Cattle (Pit) Apr 18 149.675s +1.825 +1.23%
Lean Hogs (Pit) Dec 17 60.700s -1.325 -2.14%
Lean Hogs (Pit) Feb 18 66.950s -1.525 -2.23%
Lean Hogs (Pit) Apr 18 71.375s -1.000 -1.38%
