By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, May 23 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures canola contracts were weaker on Thursday, as lower soybeans prices at the Chicago Board of Trade weighed on values.
The July contract fell C$4.00 at C$441.80 per tonne. The November contract dropped C$3.60 at C$455.00 per tonne.
Dryness across much of Western Canada has been supportive of prices. The dry conditions have greatly helped farmers with seeding this spring, but unless there is rain soon, the crops will have trouble germinating and growing.
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There were 16,078 contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 15,274 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 7,936 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola Jul 441.80 dn 4.00
Nov 455.00 dn 3.60
Jan 460.40 dn 3.70
Mar 465.70 dn 3.70
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were weaker on Thursday, largely on fears of a global economic slump if the United States/China trade war continues.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced a US$16 billion aid package that has allocated US$14.5 billion in direct payments to U.S. farmers. The secretary didn’t cite any specific amounts for the 26 different crops to be covered. Rather farmers will get, “a payment based on a single county rate multiplied by a farm’s total planting to those crops in aggregate in 2019. The method apparently will not distort planting decisions and Perdue said, “total payment eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings.”
Prior to the secretary’s announcement it was believed soybean farmers would get $2 per bushel, based on the amount bean prices have dropped since the U.S./China trade war began.
Also today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced weekly export sales of almost 541,000 tonnes of soybeans, of which less than one per cent was new crop.
Soymeal exports came to 300,000 tonnes of which 37.3 per cent was new crop.
CORN futures were lower on Thursday, due to spillover from soybeans.
The USDA reported weekly export sales of corn to be 442,100 tonnes, well within market predictions.
Ethanol production in the U.S increased by 20,000 barrels to 1.07 million barrels per day.
China’s grain imports jumped 75 per cent year-over-year in April to 1.65 million tonnes. Also, China auctioned off almost 3.620 million tonnes of its corn reserves on Thursday.
WHEAT futures were also lower on Thursday, due to spillover from soybeans and from technical selling.
The USDA reported weekly export sales of 393,300 tonnes of wheat, of which nearly 88 per cent was new crop.
Russian wheat sales have been slow in May, at 900,000 tonnes. That’s about half of the country’s April sales.
China wheat imports increased 23 per cent to 1.25 million tonnes so far in 2019.
