WINNIPEG – The ICE Futures canola market made gains for the seventh time in eight sessions after OPEC+ members announced on Sunday they will cut crude oil production by more than one million barrels per day starting in May. Speculative short covering also contributed to the rising prices.
Crude oil was up more than US$5 per barrel in response to the reduced output, while its rise also supported Chicago soyoil, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed.
At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was up six-tenths of a United States cent compared to Friday’s close.
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About 41,917 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 30,645 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 29,694 of the contracts traded.
CORN ended Monday lower, alternating between gains and losses for the fifth straight day.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected nearly 92 million acres to be grown for corn this spring in its Prospective Plantings report on Friday, one million more than the average trade guess, led by a 27 per cent increase in North Dakota.
The USDA also reported corn stocks as of March 1 at 7.4 billion bushels, 73 million less than the trade’s average guess and 357 million less than last year.
In total, 1.098 million tonnes of U.S. corn were exported for the week ended March 30, up 60 per cent from the previous week and down 29 per cent from the same week last year. A 150,000 tonne sale from the U.S. to Mexico for the 2023-24 marketing year was announced this morning.
SOYBEAN values were supported by rising crude oil prices after OPEC+ announced on Sunday production cuts starting in May.
On Friday, the USDA projected 87.5 million acres of U.S. soybeans to be grown this spring, while it counted 1.685 billion bushels of stocks as of March 1, 246 million tighter than one year earlier.
The USDA also reported 499,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans were exported for the week ended March 30, down from 892,000 from the previous week and down from 742,300 from the same week one year ago.
The USDA confirmed a 177-million bushel soybean crush for February, down 14 million from January but up three million from February 2022.
Argentina is expected to launch a new “soy dollar” exchange rate to be worth 270 to 300 Argentina pesos per U.S. dollar.
WHEAT prices moved little compared to Friday’s close.
The USDA projected 49.855 million acres of wheat to be seeded this spring with 10.57 million for spring wheat. U.S. wheat stocks as of March 1 totaled 946 million bushels, down 83 million from last year.
For the week ended March 30, more than 168,000 tonnes of wheat were exported, down 58 per cent from last week and down 48 per cent from the same week last year.
Following the leads of Cargill and Viterra, Louis Dreyfus announced it will stop exporting Russian grain starting July 1.
