Sept. 9 — Financial and energy markets were able to hold onto small gains which helped keep grains from falling any further than they did today. Corn saw small gains while beans, wheat and canola fell slightly as harvest pressure continues to build.
The U.S. dollar fell another three-10ths of a cent; the Canadian dollar closed down at US92.53 cents.
The Dow Jones September quote is up 42 points at 9,538.
Crude oil is up 21 cents at US$71.31 per barrel.
Corn closed up two to three cents a bushel today, while beans closed down three to eight cents a bushel.
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Wheat futures closed mixed, up 2.4 cents per bushel to down six cents a bushel on the various U.S. exchanges. Minneapolis September wheat closed up 2.4 cents a bushel.
Canola closed down $3.60-$4.30 per tonne today.
October Western barley fell $1 per tonne, closing at $111. November futures are up $1.20 per tonne, at $140.
Statistics Canada released its July stocks report today and it showed canola stocks at 1.661 million tonnes, which is above the industry estimate of 1.5 million, so this set a negative tone for canola today.
Watching for frost
Reports of frost the past couple of nights and continued forecasts for more frost across the Prairies helped to support canola futures and neutralized the negative effect that the stocks report could have had on canola futures today.
Canola futures are considered to be oversold right now but harvest pressure continues to win the battle and push prices lower. Any significant frost event across the Prairies is just the excuse the market is waiting for to rally the futures — just because!
I have had reports of -3° to -5°C the past two nights in various parts of central Alberta. What level of damage this will do to the crops is hard to say, but it is telling us that time is almost up for these crops to mature.
Swathing has become very general as farmers try to get some of the greener crops cut before the frost hits, to hopefully reduce the impact the frost will have on the quality.
The full moon is upon us, so the next few nights are going to be critical.
Producer cars
CN is planning on delisting 53 producer car loading sites across the Prairies. Once these sites are delisted, it is very hard if not almost impossible to get them back on the list to allow producers to load cars.
I have been involved in trying to get a loading site reopened and I can tell you firsthand that in the process of negotiating to reopen the loading site, the requirements will become more onerous on the producers, as CN will try to put in car minimums and loading time restrictions before it will agree to reopen and service that loading site.
If you are or have considered loading producer cars I would urge you to contact your MP and the minister if you want to preserve the right to load producer cars for the future.
That’s all for today. — Brian
— Brian Wittal has spent over 27 years in the grain industry, including as an elevator manager and producer services representative for Alberta Wheat Pool, a regional sales manager for AgPro Grain and farm business representative for the Canadian Wheat Board, where he helped design some of the new pricing programs. He also operates his own company providing marketing and risk management advice for Prairie grain producers. Brian’s daily commentaries focus on how domestic and world market conditions affect you directly as grain producers.
Brian welcomes feedback and information on market conditions in your area, such as current offering prices, basis levels, trucking premiums and special crops contracts. Contact Brian today.
