Have you ever seen a man wearing a toque talking about rain in Australia? I hadn’t either until a few minutes ago when I checked out the Canadian Wheat Board’s youtube site and watched the video commentary provided by a betoqued weather and crop conditions analyst named Stuart McMillan. (Oddly, my markets editor – also […] Read more
Tag Archives Commodities
Put your toque on and let’s talk Ozzie rain
The insidious creep of credentialism: sign me up!
I remember once interviewing a fellow who spoke of “creeping credentialism” and its dangers in – if I remember right – the teaching profession. Basically, he was concerned that people were involved in an educational arms race in which they would pile up degrees, certificates and designations and then be able to stick new items […] Read more
If a report fell in the forest, and it made a sound but no one cared, and then a bear came and . . .
On Friday Statistics Canada dropped a report with some big surprises in it, the market heard it – and did nothing. So did it make a sound? Here’s a better question: Who cares? The only thing that matters in reports is market impact, so if the market did nothing with big extra production of canola […] Read more
Another leg up?
So are we down at the ankle of another leg up in the crop markets? It’d sure be nice if there’s another surge in prices coming before Christmas. And I must admit the end of the downdraft in the main ag markets and the surge upwards yesterday – held onto today – have made me […] Read more
Your chance to experience the sights and (descriptions of) the sounds and smell of India
If you go to a lot of industry conferences like I do, you’ll hear a lot of talk about India. India’s a huge buyer of Canadian pulses, sometimes buys our other crops, and sometimes – shockingly – ends up exporting wheat when the country’s farmers grow a lot. So it’s a big freakin’ deal in […] Read more
Are we at the highs or the lows? Seasonality, schmeasonality!
Usually this is the time of the year when the ag markets hit bottom. This is when the “harvest lows” bottom out. Certainly that’s been the case in oats, and I know that because most years I cover the Prairie Oat Growers Association convention in the first week of December, and almost invariably it’s during […] Read more
Black Friday – how black is your outlook?
It’s Black Friday, and thousands of Manitobans have flocked south to Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota, to be part of the madding crowds seeking deals at big box stores down south of the line. The Tobans will probably get most of the deals because all the Yanks they’re competing with will still be stuffed […] Read more
Keeping an eye on Henry Hub and your crack spread
My head is full of facts about the Henry Hub, about how to calculate a crack spread, about why Cushing, Oklahoma is important to USO, and about how the final fixing is done by the London Gold Pool. Today I have to write the exam for the Canadian Securities Institute’s Commodities as Investments course, and […] Read more
All in one boat?
So here are three ways to look at the market this morning: 1) A – Corn’s up today because of worries about future world crop prospects and because of continuing export sales, and anticipation of sales of the world’s corn crops to China. B – Soybeans are up because worries have eased today about China buying less. C […] Read more
Pray the markets are more like Phio, less like Ed
You’re probably hoping the crop markets are going to be more like Phio, and less like Ed. Well, you would be if you knew who Phio and Ed are, and why I just said that. Phio is my 20-month-old daughter. I am Ed. When I got up this morning, I felt rather weak and queasy. […] Read more
