Grain and oilseed futures were falling Thursday morning on a slightly bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture report and a pull back in equities.
May canola was down $4.90 per tonne at $566.60 shortly after 10 AM CST.
The USDA’s monthly supply and demand report left the U.S. soybean year end stocks number unchanged, but posted larger than expected wheat and corn stock numbers.
USDA’s year-end soybean stocks number was steady at 140 million bushels. Analysts had expected 142 million bu.
USDA now expects its wheat exports will slow in the latter part of the crop year, with more competition from Australia and reduced demand because of high prices.
U.S. wheat stocks were forecast at 843 million bu., up three percent from the previous month and four percent higher than average analyst forecasts.
USDA put global wheat ending stocks at 181.9 million tonnes, up 2.3 percent from last month’s estimate and 2.4 percent above trade expectations.
It increased the estimated size of the Australian wheat crop by four percent to 26 million tonnes and increased Argentina’s wheat crop by seven percent to 15 million tonnes.
U.S. corn ending stocks were steady at a tight 675 million bushels, but traders had expected a slight decline.
Markets generally were in a negative mood, worried by a downgrade in Spain’s credit rating, which highlights the euro zone debt crisis, and by an unexpected Chinese trade deficit.
Also, U.S. weekly job numbers were weaker than expected.
