Soaring wheat futures on Russia’s decision to temporarily stop exports lifted all crop prices including canola on Thursday.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin today announced a ban on exports of wheat, barley, rye, corn as well as wheat and rye flour from Aug. 15 to Dec. 31. Russia will ask its customs union partners Kazakhstan and Belarus to also stop exports.
The region is experiencing its worst drought in 130 years.
Chicago wheat closed up its 60 cent per bushel limit.
The ban will shift wheat business to other exporters. The situation could the reason behind two weeks of U.S. export figures that were larger than expected.
November canola hit a high of $479.80 per tonne at one point but closed about $10 off the peak on profit taking, both in canola and in U.S. soybean futures.
Soy oil closed lower on the day.
A weather premium remains in the canola market because of uncertainty about whether the crop, which is about one to two weeks late, will mature before frost hits.
Alberta’s crop report released Thursday said crops generally could yield 10 to 15 percent higher than the norm. It said 68 percent of canola was in good to excellent condition in the province.
The Saskatchewan crop report did not have a rating for canola this week. It said producers in the southeast part of the province could start to swath early seeded canola by the end of the week. Generally in the province, development stages are mixed, with some canola crops still flowering but many moving into the pod filling stage.
In Winnipeg, November canola rose $1.40 per tonne to $469.50 on 9,549 trades.
The January contract rose $2 to $472.60 on 2,246 trades.
The previous day’s best basis widened to $18 per tonne under the November contract in the par region, according to the Winnipeg ICE Futures daily report.
The 14-day Relative Strength Index for November was 66 according to BarChart.com. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates an over bought market.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 98.44 cents US, up from 98.18 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0158.
Winnipeg October barley rose 90 cents to $160 and December also rose 90 cents to $160. The contracts adjusted to reflect higher feed grain prices but there was no trade.
Chicago August soybeans rose two cents to $10.55 US per bushel. September rose 5.5 cents to $10.3475. New-crop November rose 4.75 cents to $10.29.
September oats rose 1.75 cents to $2.82 per bu. December oats rose 1.25 cents to $2.945 per bu.
In New York, crude oil for September delivery fell 46 cents to $82.01 US per barrel.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association issued its year-end report saying that in the final three days to July 31 members crushed 51,926 tonnes of canola.
That moved the 2009-10 total to 4.626 million tonnes, up from 4.047 million tonnes last year.
For the year the capacity use was 80.6 percent, down from 91.2 percent the year before. New crushing plants opened during the year, adding capacity. Also, operations at some plants at times were affected because U.S. put them on import watches because of problems with salmonella on canola meal.
