North American Grain and Oilseed Review: New contract highs for most old crop months

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) canola futures were higher in the most actively-traded months on Wednesday. The nearby January, March and May contracts reached new highs before backing away. Meanwhile, there were declines in the more deferred positions.

Support for canola came from small gains in Chicago soyoil as well as the front months of European rapeseed. Modest increases in global crude oil prices aided edible oil values.

Cold weather and the holiday season have slowed grain movements across the Prairies. A break in the below normal temperatures is forecast for the New Year’s weekend.

The scarcity of canola added to its value, due to the need to ration demand.

At mid-afternoon the Canadian dollar was higher with the loonie was at 78.14 U.S. cents, compared to Tuesday’s close of 77.96.

There were 15,006 contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 21,300 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,652 contracts traded.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.

Price Change
Canola Jan 1,087.40 up 48.90
Mar 1,022.40 up 3.90
May 993.60 up 1.40
Jul 946.40 dn 3.10

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were mostly higher on Wednesday, with a small loss in the soon-to-expire January contract.

Ahead of the monthly fats and oils report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the trade has projected the November crush to be 191.7 million bushels of soybeans. Should that hold out, it would mark a new record for the month of November. The markets peg soyoil stocks at 2.4 billion pounds.

Dry conditions throughout much of Argentina, as well as central and southern Brazil remained a primary concern to the global oilseed market. Rain is in the long-range forecast, which could alleviate some of the dryness. Meanwhile, northern Brazil was contending with wet conditions.

CORN futures were slightly higher on Wednesday, due to spillover from soybeans and wheat.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported ethanol production for the week ended Dec. 24 was 1.06 million barrels per day (BPD), down 8,000 BPD from the previous week. Ethanol stocks slipped back 29,000 barrels at 20.68 million.

Due to dryness in Brazil, some analysts have cut their corn production projections by four million to five million tonnes.

Ukraine said its year-to-date corn exports were at 10.3 million tonnes as of Dec. 29. The country’s agriculture ministry has called for 2021/22 corn exports to total 30.9 million tonnes.

WHEAT futures were higher on Wednesday, as coming below normal temperatures for the U.S. Northern and Central Plains could pose a threat to winter wheat crops, as there might not be enough snow cover to protect them.

Ukraine reported year-to-date wheat exports of 15.7 million tonnes, as of Dec. 29. The ag ministry has projected 2021/22 wheat exports to reach 24.5 million tonnes.

In international purchases, Egypt acquired 300,000 tonnes of wheat with 180,000 from Ukraine and 60,000 each from France and Russia. Jordan issued a tender for 120,000 tonnes of wheat and Iraq is looking for 50,000 tonnes.

The Western Producer

Tags: prices, weather, soybean futures, corn futures, canola futures, wheat futures