By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, March 23 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures canola contracts were stronger on Monday, due to gains in the Chicago soy complex and a weaker Canadian dollar.
The soy complex saw good gains in beans, oil and meal as shipping delays in China and South America pushed up prices.
By mid-afternoon Monday, the Canadian dollar was lower at 68.91 U.S. cents compared to Friday’s close of 69.77.
A trader noted that canola has lagged behind soyoil price movements.
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There were 17,029 contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 18,680 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 9,252 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola May 467.50 up 5.60
Jul 475.60 up 6.10
Nov 483.00 up 5.30
Jan 489.80 up 4.90
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were stronger on Monday, benefitting from delays at ports in China and South America.
With soybean shipments being delayed at China’s ports due to quarantine procedures over COVID-19, several crushing plants have incurred shortages. The trading of soymeal on China’s commodity market was stopped after prices hit their daily maximum.
The Argentina government has closed that country’s ports for 15 days, stemming from the pandemic. Plus, there could be delays at the Santos port in Brazil as workers there take a strike vote.
In the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) export inspections report, released today, soybean exports were just short of 21.0 million tonnes for the week ended March 19. Marketing year to date shipments were 31.19 million tonnes, up from the 28.58 million tonnes this time last year.
There is no official word from USDA that it might delay its March 1 grain stocks and the planting intentions reports. The reports are scheduled to be released on March 31. There has been market speculation that the reports could be delayed due to more USDA staff working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CORN futures were steady on Monday, with a quarter cent loss for the May contract while the July contract was unchanged.
A growing number of U.S. ethanol plants have shut down due to the Saudi Arabia/Russia crude oil price war and COVID-19. Drastically reduced crude prices have made ethanol production unprofitable.
In the USDA export inspections report, nearly 816,650 tonnes of corn were exported. Total exports so far in 2019/20 amounted to 16.75 million tonnes, which is down more than 41 per cent from this time last year.
WHEAT futures were stronger on Monday, with plus 20-cent gains for Chicago and Kansas City while Minneapolis has more moderate increases.
Export inspections of U.S. wheat were just shy of 349,370 tonnes. On the year, shipments reached 20.09 million tonnes which was 9.2 per cent of the pace at this point in 2018/19.
The USDA issued a correction to its March 20 announcement regarding sales to China. The corrected statement on Monday said 340,000 tonnes of hard red winter wheat was sold to China. Of that, 55,000 tonnes is for delivery this marketing year and the remainder during 2020/21. The rest of the March 20 announcement was correct.
