Weather issues support oilseeds and wheat

Deferred canola futures edged higher Tuesday but most-traded March was flat, despite stronger soybean values.

Crude oil fell again with West Texas Intermediate in New York closing at US$47.93 per barrel, down $2.11.

The loonie continued its decline, providing support to canola values.

Stock markets were also down, weakened by the melt down in oil values, which have fallen almost two percent in two days.

Soybeans were supported by concern about a spate of dry weather in Argentina. Soy oil edged lower despite stronger palm oil futures. Palm rose mostly because the Malaysian currency fell against the U.S. buck, but also because of monsoon floods disrupting palm transportation. Gains were checked by falling crude oil values.

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ICE Weekly: Canola could relive March lows: analyst

Canola futures on the Intercontinental Exchange are being pressured by the harvest and a lack of export demand. One analyst said they could fall to their March lows.

Wheat rose on concern about the potential for cold weather blanketing the U.S. Midwest and Plains causing winter kill.

The condition of wheat was already deteriorating before this cold snap.

The monthly crop condition report for Kansas, the largest had red winter wheat state, fell to 49 percent good to excellent, 42 percent fair and nine percent poor to very poor.

In the previous report from Nov. 24 the good to excellent was 61, fair was 35 and poor to very poor was four percent.

In Illinois, one of the largest soft wheat producers, the good to excellent rating fell to 24 percent, down 32 points from Nov. 24

Also supportive was talk that China bought about 120,000 tonnes of hard wheat in recent days.

Traders said China is likely to step up imports of higher-quality grains to meet a domestic shortfall.

But prices were held in check by plentiful global wheat supplies and the close was much lower than the highs hit earlier in the day.

Corn edged lower on profit taking after Monday’s two percent surge, which was driven by an influx of commodity fund money coming out of crude oil.

Informa Economics, the private analytics firm, trimmed its estimate of last summer’s U.S. corn production to 14.425 billion bushels from 14.493 billion previously, and pared its yield estimate to 172.7 bu. per acre from 174.4.

For soybeans, Informa estimated the 2014 U.S. harvest at 3.969 billion bu. and the yield at 47.6 bushels per acre. That is down from its previous estimates of 3.991 billion bu. and 47.9 bu. per acre, released on Nov. 4.

Light crude oil nearby futures in New York was down $2.11 to US$47.93 per barrel.

The Canadian dollar at noon was US84.72 cents, down from 84.84 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was C$1.1804.

In unofficial tallies —

The Toronto Stock Exchange composite fell 145.93 points or about one percent to settle at 14,246.77.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 133.61 points, or 0.76 percent, to 17,368.04, the S&P 500 fell 18.23 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,002.35 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 59.84 points, or 1.29 percent, to 4,592.74.

Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne

Canola Jan 2015 462.40 +0.70 +0.15%

Canola Mar 2015 448.60 unch 0.00%

Canola May 2015 443.10 +1.40 +0.32%

Canola Jul 2015 440.80 +1.40 +0.32%

Canola Nov 2015 431.10 +2.10 +0.49%

Milling Wheat Mar 2015 227.00 +1.00 +0.44%

Milling Wheat May 2015 230.00 +2.00 +0.88%

Milling Wheat Jul 2015 232.00 +2.00 +0.87%

Durum Wheat Mar 2015 365.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat May 2015 355.00 unch 0.00%

Durum Wheat Jul 2015 345.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Mar 2015 177.00 unch 0.00%

Barley May 2015 179.00 unch 0.00%

Barley Jul 2015 181.00 unch 0.00%

American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound

Chicago

Soybeans Jan 2015 1051 +11.25 +1.08%

Soybeans Mar 2015 1055.75 +10.5 +1.00%

Soybeans May 2015 1061.5 +9.5 +0.90%

Soybeans Jul 2015 1066 +8.5 +0.80%

Soybeans Aug 2015 1063.5 +8.25 +0.78%

Soybeans Sep 2015 1043.5 +6.25 +0.60%

Soybean Meal Jan 2015 370.8 +1.8 +0.49%

Soybean Meal Mar 2015 355.1 +1.1 +0.31%

Soybean Meal May 2015 348.7 +2.2 +0.63%

Soybean Oil Jan 2015 32.69 -0.01 -0.03%

Soybean Oil Mar 2015 32.87 unch 0.00%

Soybean Oil May 2015 33.05 +0.01 +0.03%

Corn Mar 2015 405 -1 -0.25%

Corn May 2015 413.5 -1.25 -0.30%

Corn Jul 2015 420.25 -1 -0.24%

Corn Sep 2015 422.75 -0.75 -0.18%

Corn Dec 2015 428.25 -0.75 -0.17%

Oats Mar 2015 304.5 -1.5 -0.49%

Oats May 2015 306 -2 -0.65%

Oats Jul 2015 309.25 -1.5 -0.48%

Oats Sep 2015 307.5 -1.25 -0.40%

Oats Dec 2015 306.75 unch 0.00%

Wheat Mar 2015 591.75 +2.75 +0.47%

Wheat May 2015 596 +2.25 +0.38%

Wheat Jul 2015 598.75 +2.75 +0.46%

Wheat Sep 2015 605.25 +2.5 +0.41%

Wheat Dec 2015 615.5 +3.25 +0.53%

Minneapolis

Spring Wheat Mar 2015 625.5 +4 +0.64%

Spring Wheat May 2015 631.75 +3.25 +0.52%

Spring Wheat Jul 2015 638.75 +3.75 +0.59%

Spring Wheat Sep 2015 644 +4 +0.62%

Spring Wheat Dec 2015 653.25 +5.25 +0.81%

Kansas City

Hard Red Wheat Mar 2015 631.25 +6.5 +1.04%

Hard Red Wheat May 2015 635.25 +5.75 +0.91%

Hard Red Wheat Jul 2015 637 +5.75 +0.91%

Hard Red Wheat Sep 2015 647 +5 +0.78%

Hard Red Wheat Dec 2015 660 +4.75 +0.72%

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