By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures closed higher on Monday, following the Statistics Canada report on principal field crop areas.
StatCan projected canola acres in 2024 at 21.39 million down from last year’s 22.08 million. However, the weather outlook called for normal levels of precipitation through to spring, which likely means improved soil moisture levels on the Prairies and the opportunity for more canola going into the ground.
The Canadian oilseed closed above its 50-day average, which lent more support.
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An analyst said the stochastics for canola point to it being overbought as it pushed further towards the high side of its range.
The Canadian dollar was lower at mid-afternoon Monday with the loonie at 74.14 U.S. cents compared to Friday’s close of 74.23.
There were 55,174 contracts traded on Monday, compared to Friday when 38,054 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 29,656 contracts traded.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:
Price Change Canola May 615.70 up 6.10 Jul 623.30 up 5.60 Nov 629.00 up 5.50 Jan 636.40 up 6.90
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were lower Monday as was soymeal, but there were gains in soyoil.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported export inspections of soybeans for the week ended Mar. 7 of 706,334 tonnes, down from the previous week’s 1.16 million. The year-to-date tally continued to lag far behind with 35.00 million tonnes of soybeans shipped, compared to the 43.34 million a year ago.
AgRural placed the Brazil soybean harvest at 55 per cent complete, while Patria Agronegocios pegged the harvest at nearly 53 per cent done.
StoneX nudged up its call on 2023-24 Brazil soybean production by 0.08 per cent at 151.55 million tonnes.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said the Argentina soybean harvest will very likely begin this week and estimated the crop at 52.5 million tonnes.
Statistics Canada estimated the country’s 2024 soybean plantings are to be 5.58 million acres, down from the 5.63 million seeded last year.
CORN futures turned around on Monday to close slightly higher following another good week of export inspections.
The USDA said corn inspections dipped to 1.12 million tonnes from last week’s 1.15 million. At 21.81 million tonnes, the year-to-date remained well ahead of last year’s 16.36 million.
AgRural reported the planting of Brazil’s second corn crop was 93 per cent finished.
StatCan pegged Canada’s planted corn for grain acres for 2024 at 3.89 million, up slightly from last year’s 3.82 million.
WHEAT futures were higher on Monday, despite bearish news out of China.
The USDA announced a third private sale cancellation of soft red winter wheat by China, with today’s for 264,000 tonnes. Last week, China made two cancellations that totaled 240,000 tonnes.
The department reported wheat exports were higher at 402,874 tonnes compared to 358,298 last week. However, the year-to-date remained behind at 13.37 million tonnes versus last year’s 15.91 million.
StatCan forecast total wheat acres in Canada for 2024 to be 27.04 million, a slight increase from last year’s 27.03 million. Spring wheat is to slip to 19.23 million acres from 19.47 million. Durum acres are to increase to 6.34 million from 6.03 million. Winter wheat acres are to decrease to 1.47 million from 1.52 million.
A large grain silo was reportedly destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Dnipro region during the weekend, killing one person.
