By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Jan. 21 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures canola contracts finished lower on Tuesday, due to significantly weaker Chicago soyoil prices.
At the Chicago Board of Trade soyoil lost six-tenths of cent.
Also, a trader noted that canola prices have often retreated after making gains recently. He said this occurs quite often during mid-January.
The extradition hearing for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou entered its second day. This highlights the strained relations between Canada and China which has seen canola exports to the latter severely curtailed following Meng’s arrest in December 2018.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, the loonie fell back to 76.48 U.S. cents, compared to Monday’s close of 76.61.
There were 11,450 contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 10,968 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 6,708 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola Mar 476.80 dn 4.20
May 485.60 dn 4.20
Jul 490.00 dn 4.10
Nov 493.30 dn 3.30
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were weaker on Tuesday, as trading resumed following Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Tuesday export inspections for the week ending Jan. 16 of nearly 1.20 million tonnes of soybeans. Total soybean exports so far in the 2019/20 marketing year have reached 24.17 million tonnes. That’s 4.52 million tonnes more than this time last year.
Doubts in the markets have continued to mount as to China being able to meet its targets as outlined in the Phase One trade agreement. Those doubts have also extended to U.S. farmers having the ability to meet the demands for soybeans and other crops.
AgRural reported the Brazil soybean harvest was almost at two per cent complete. This time last year the harvest was a little more than six per cent finished. AgRural lowered its estimate of Brazil’s soybean production by slightly less than one per cent to 123.9 million tonnes.
CORN futures were lower on Tuesday, catching some spillover from soybeans and on technical selling.
The USDA report corn export inspections of 345,860 tonnes. Year to date inspections amounted to 9.43 million tonnes.
The Canadian government announced on Tuesday it will introduce legislation to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on Jan. 29. The USMCA replaces NAFTA after 26 years and could boost Mexico’s corn imports from its two partners. Mexico and the U.S. already ratified the agreement.
WHEAT futures were higher on Tuesday with Chicago wheat making double-digit gains.
The USDA said wheat export inspections hit 435,130 tonnes for the week. That’s a drop of almost 125,850 tonnes from the previous week. For the current marketing year, inspections totaled 15.92 million tonnes and more than 13.5 per cent ahead of 2018/19.
Pakistan approved a wheat import quota of 300,000 tonnes.
Japan issued a tender for 108,926 tonnes of wheat, with nearly 82,700 tonnes to come from the U.S. and the rest from Canada.
