By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures added small gains on Monday in light volumes of trading.
The United States markets were closed for their regular session on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and are scheduled to reopen this evening.
Support for canola came from upticks in European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil. Very slight declines in global crude oil prices placed a little bit of pressure on vegetable oils.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its monthly supply and demand report on Jan.12, kept its production estimate for Canadian canola at 18.8 million tonnes. Last month, Statistics Canada pegged this year’s canola harvest at 18.3 million tonnes. Also, the USDA projected ending stocks at 1.68 million tonnes compared to the 1.45 million from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. AAFC is scheduled to update its monthly report next week.
Read Also
ICE canola turning around on Tuesday
Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – Canola futures on the Intercontinental Exchange were higher on Tuesday morning, gaining strength from comparable…
As of Jan. 9, spec fund traders pushed up the short position in canola to a record of 121,762 contracts, according to the U.S. Commitment of Traders report.
Ongoing frigid temperatures continued to hamper deliveries of canola and other grains across the Prairies.
The Canadian dollar was lower Monday with the loonie at 74.43 U.S. cents compared to Friday’s close of 74.70.
There were 12,804 contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 42,484 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 6,626 contracts traded.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:
Price Change Canola Mar 628.70 up 1.70 May 635.30 up 0.60 Jul 641.00 up 0.30 Nov 639.20 up 0.90
The USDA published its monthly supply and report on Jan. 12, with soybean ending stocks raised to 280 million bushels, and the corn carryover climbed to 2.162 billion. The wheat carryout was cut to 648 million bushels.
The USDA cut Brazil soybean production to 157 million tonnes and its corn output to 127 million. The department raised Argentina’s soybean crop to 50 million tonnes and kept its corn harvest at 55 million tonnes.
While most private consultancies pegged the Brazil soybean crop between 150 million to 155 million tonnes, consultancy Patria Agronegocios slashed its call from 150.7 million tonnes to now 143.2 million.
With planting in Argentina wrapping up, the Rosario Grain Exchange forecast soybean production to be 52 million tonnes and corn is expected to come in at 59 million tonnes.
Reports said approximately 3,000 farm tractors and other heavy equipment were parked near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Monday with expectations for 2,000 more during the week. At least 10,000 German farmers began protesting the federal government’s plan to end their tax break on diesel fuel and cut other farm subsidies.
Meanwhile, a cold snap in Europe is likely to have caused some damage to waterlogged winter crops in France and Germany.
China bumped up its 2023/24 corn forecast from 288.23 million tonnes to now 288.84 million, and trimmed soybean output from 20.89 million tonnes to 20.84 million.
Although China’s December soybean imports of 9.82 million tonnes came in below expectations, on the calendar year they rose 11.4 per cent at 99.41 million.
Despite movement through the Panama Canal remaining at a third of normal volumes, the cost of transiting the vital waterway has plummeted from nearly US$4 million per slot in November, to now US$269,000, according to a report.
