Canola futures rose on a weaker loonie that should make the oilseed more attractive to foreign buyers and domestic crushers.
Canola also benefited from thoughts that the price has to be high enough to ration demand to prevent supply from running out before the new crop is harvested.
Old crop soybeans fell a little on forecasts for rain in dry Argentina, but new crop November gained slightly after rumours that China was looking to buy more American beans.
March canola closed at $609.10, up $3.30
Read Also
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.
November closed at $554.80, also up $3.30.
Nearby corn closed slightly higher on bull spreading (buying of old crop and selling of new crop on expectation that old crop has a greater likelihood of rallying) but wheat fell again on technical selling.
• Argentine farmers have pre sold only five million tonnes of an expected 50 million tonne soybean crop, down from 10 million at the same time last year.
Analysts say farmers plan to store oilseeds in the hope of higher soybean prices later. Also they expect the peso will depreciate and inflation will continue at about 25 percent a year. The grain will hold its value better than cash.
• Reuters reported that ships are already headed to Brazil to load soybeans. It is very early, but the grain companies that hire the ships hope that the early vessels will get loaded quickly and head out to sea before the main shipping season in March, which is expected to suffer from congestion and loading delays of up to 45 days.
Brazil has only 58 million tonnes of storage for a crop that is expected to be about 85 million tonnes.
One problem in Brazil that has been addressed are long truck lines that in the past stretched as far as 60 miles back from ports. Now, only trucks carrying soybeans that are already committed to a ship are allowed in.
Winnipeg ICE (per tonne)
Canola Mar 13 $609.10, up $3.30 +0.54%
Canola May 13 $599.10, up $4.70 +0.79%
Canola Jul 13 $589.10, up $5.30 +0.91%
Canola Nov 13 $554.80, up $3.30 +0.60%
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $291.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat May 13 $294.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Jul 13 $296.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $312.40, unchanged
Durum Wheat May 13 $316.40, unchanged
Durum Wheat Jul 13 $319.40, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $241.50, unchanged
Barley May 13 $242.50, unchanged
Barley Jul 13 $243.00, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Mar 13 $14.3525, down 1.75 cents -0.12%
Soybeans (P) May 13 $14.2375, down 3.0 -0.21%
Soybeans (P) Jul 13 $14.175, down 2.25 -0.16%
Soybeans (P) Aug 13 $13.925, down 2.0 -0.14%
Corn (P) Mar 13 $7.2425, up 3.5 +0.49%
Corn (P) May 13 $7.2425, up 1.5 +0.21%
Corn (P) Jul 13 $7.17, unchanged
Oats (P) Mar 13 $3.61, up 1.25 +0.35%
Oats (P) May 13 $3.6775, unchanged
Oats (P) Jul 13 $3.735, up 2.0 +0.54%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $8.555, down 5.0 cents -0.58%
Spring Wheat May 13 $8.675, down 4.75 -0.54%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 $8.775, down 3.75 -0.43%
Spring Wheat Sep 13 $8.7825, down 3.75 -0.43%
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie fell below par to 99.74 cents US, down from $1.0014 the day before.
The U.S. greenback was $1.0026 Cdn.
Disappointing quarterly results at Apple hurt the Nasdaq but rising Agrium and RIM shares helped the TSX. News that U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest level in five years, U.S. factory activity grew the most in nearly two years in January and Chinese manufacturing accelerated to a two-year high all helped support stock and commodity markets.
Crude oil in New York rose 72 cents to $95.95 per barrel, lifted by the positive economic news and word that the Seaway pipeline would be back to full operation within a week.
In early tallies —
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 29.57 points, or 0.23 percent, at 12,823.62.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46 points, or 0.33 percent, to end at 13,825.33.
The S&P 500 Index edged up 0.01 of a point, to finish at 1,494.82.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 23.29 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 3,130.38.
