Jan. 30 — It was a roller coaster ride today with stocks going up and down, up and down as various news items came in throughout the day that influenced the markets.
Corn ended down two to three cents a bushel, beans finished up eight to 13 cents a bushel, wheat is down four to 12 cents a bushel, canola is up $1 to $2 per tonne and barley is down $2 to $3 a tonne.
Rumors of Egypt buying beans helped push oilseed futures up today, but continued mixed weather forecasts for Argentina kept markets from making any big gains.
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The selloff in wheat continued today as traders felt it was time to take profits.
Crude oil futures finished up 26 cents to close at US$41.68 per barrel for the week.
The Canadian dollar finished down slightly, closing at US81.41 cents. The U.S. dollar was up as investors around the world look to buy the dollar, seeing it as a good investment.
Financial markets were on the defensive again today with the continued news from the U.S. and Canada of further job cuts and business closures.
Here’s hoping renewed export buying shows up next week and can help support the grain markets and give them a little boost back up.
The CWB announced Thursday it is unofficially closing off the 2008-09 malt barley pool to protect the pool return outlook (PRO) value. The estimated net value for Special Select two-row malt delivered in central Saskatchewan is $5.50 per bushel.
With world malt prices dropping so hard the past six months, the CWB did this to ensure that producers who committed tonnes to the pool earlier will receive a fair value for their malt and not see the PRO diluted by the falling values.
Any future malt sales that are made this crop year will be done through the CashPlus program. Refer to the CWB’s website for more details.
That’s all for this week. — 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 a grain producers. He welcomes feedback and information on market conditions in your area, such as current offering prices, basis levels, trucking premiums and special crops contracts.
