By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Oct. 23 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures dropped sharply on Monday, due to declines in comparable oils.
Losses in global crude oil prices turned from modest to steep, which threw weakness in the vegetable oils. That spurred pull backs in the Chicago soy complex, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed.
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported canola reached its largest net short position in seven months at 70,800 contracts.
Canola crush margins held stable with the November and January positions holding well in excess of C$200 per tonne above futures.
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Prairie temperatures continued to move towards below normal, with rain and perhaps snow threatening to delay the harvest of any small amounts of crops still left in the fields.
The Canadian dollar was slightly higher at mid-afternoon Monday with the loonie at 73.10 U.S. cents compared to Friday’s close of 73.02.
There were 38,776 contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 52,238 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 25,944 contracts traded.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:
Price Change Canola Nov 679.80 dn 14.60 Jan 691.20 dn 13.20 Mar 699.70 dn 13.20 May 705.40 dn 13.00
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Monday as crude oil prices took a tumble.
The United States Department of Agriculture issued its export inspections report for the week ended Oct. 19, which included soybean shipments of almost 2.46 million tonnes, besting those from the previous week. Year-to-date inspections reached 7.89 million tonnes, slightly ahead of the 7.64 million this time last year.
The USDA said soymeal exports are hit a record 11.97 million tonnes the 2022/23 marketing year.
The Louis Dreyfus Company announced plans to build a soybean processing plant in Ohio, citing the strong demand for biofuels. Construction is set to start next year with the plant to be in operation during 2026, with the crush to reach 55 million bushels per year.
AgRural placed soybean planting in Brazil at more than 30 per cent complete, down slightly from a year ago.
China reported its hog herd remained at 42.4 million head in September compared to August.
The European Union trimmed its sunflower seed yield from 2.2 tonnes per hectare to now 2.1, noting dry conditions.
CORN futures were lower on Monday, as pressure from soybeans outweighed support from wheat.
Export inspections of U.S. corn slipped from last week to 437,549 tonnes. However, the year-to-date remained ahead of the year ago at 4.40 million tonnes.
The EU dropped its yield forecast for corn from 7.26 t/ha to now 7.13 due to dry conditions.
Argentina received more than one to nearly three inches of rain over the weekend, benefitting the country’s corn and wheat planting.
Ukraine said its total grain harvest as of Oct. 20 was 39.2 million tonnes, of which 9.3 million was corn.
WHEAT futures were higher on Monday, but gains faded at the end of the session especially in the winter wheats.
U.S. wheat incurred export inspections of 168,868 tonnes, dropping by more than half from the previous week. The year-to-date of 6.92 million tonnes was a fair distance behind the year ago.
China said its fall and winter crop area expanded by more than 1.15 million acres bringing this year’s total to just short of 215 million.
Russia reported its wheat harvest as of Oct. 19 hit 84.28 million tonnes, down from 94.53 million this time last year.
IKAR estimated total Russian grain production in 2023/24 to reach 142.2 million tonnes, up from its previous call of 141.6 million.
