Canola futures and other crop prices rose Friday on new private estimates for U.S. corn and soybean crops that are lower than forecasts made a few weeks ago.
The strength in crop commodities was impressive, given the weakness in stock markets, which fell on a report showing no job growth in the U.S. in August. That raised worries again about the possibility of the American economy falling into recession.
The weaker Canadian dollar also supported canola futures. The weaker dollar is expected to spur demand from crushers, whose operations have been slow recently.
The November canola contract closed at $575.90 per tonne, up 90 cents.
For the week, November canola rose $8.40 per tonne.
Corn, soybeans and wheat rose on worries about the declining yield outlook.
U.S. crop forecaster Lanworth today pegged 2011 U.S. corn production at 12.022 billion bushels and yield at 143.3 bu. per acre.
That is significantly below other private forecasts that peg the yield at about 148 bu. per acre and the August United States Department of Agriculture forecast of 12.914 billion bu. on an average yield of 153 bu.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association reported that members crushed 73,560 tonnes of canola in the week ending Aug. 31, down 14.5 percent from the week before. That represented a crush capacity of only 51 percent.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Nov 11 $575.90, up $0.90
Canola Jan 12 $585.20, up $1.00
Canola Mar 12 $593.80, up $1.20
Canola May 12 $599.60, up $0.60
The previous day’s best basis widened to was $25.46 under the November contract according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
The November contract’s 14-day Relative Strength Index was 61. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
Western Barley Oct 11 $215.00, up $5.00
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Sep 11 $14.36, up 11.25 cents
Soybeans Nov 11 $14.4575, up 11.25
Soybeans Jan 12 $14.5575, up 10.5
Corn Sep 11 $7.5025, up 21.5
Corn Dec 11 $7.60, up 21.5
Oats Sep 11 $3.69, up 7.0
Oats Dec 11 $3.69, up 7.0
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Sep 11 $9.8425, up 13.5 cents
Spring Wheat Dec 11 $9.4275, up 10.75
Spring Wheat Mar 12 $9.41, up 9.25
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York fell $2.48 to $86.45 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $1.0188 US, down from $1.0254 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was 98.15 cents Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index unofficially closed down 98.33 points, or 0.77 percent, at 12,602.41.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 30.46 points, or 2.53 percent, at 1,173.96.
For the week, the TSX rose 2.2 percent, Dow fell 0.4 percent, the S&P lost 0.2 percent, and the Nasdaq was flat.
