Wittal: soggy U.S. spring wheat area boosts Minneapolis futures

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Published: April 23, 2009

News of China possibly buying more canola and a higher soy complex overnight helped to push canola futures up today. Soy values dropped off as the day went on but canola seemed to find the support to stay positive throughout the day. Possibly this was due to optimistic anticipation by the Trade ahead of the Stats Canada seeded acreage report Friday. 

The Dow Jones closed up 70 points today. The U.S. dollar finished down slightly and the Canadian dollar was up .74 today to close at US81.65. Crude oil finished up $.77, closing at US$49.62 barrel.

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Corn finished up seven to nine cents a bushel, beans finished down one to nine cents, and Chicago wheat closed up 11 to 15 cents.

Canola finished up $2 to $5/t for the day, and barley finished up $2.00/t closing at $137/t.

Reports that a million acres or more may not get seeded in the Dakotas pushed wheat up strongly today. According to a Reuters report, North Dakota’s unplanted acreage may reach 1.2 million acres with rain and cool weather keeping-already flooded fields waterlogged. State agriculture commissioner Doug Goehring said the USDA’s estimate that a million acres could go unplanted in North Dakota might be optimistic. “It’s very likely that million might be the foundation,” Goehring told Reuters.

The potential for a smaller spring wheat crop has sent futures prices for the new-crop September contract at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange up 3.5 per cent in the past two days. Since Monday, the contract has risen 21-3/4 cents per bushel to close at $6.36-1/4 per bushel on Wednesday.

Barley futures climbed nicely today in anticipation of this Friday’s Stats Canada seeded acreage report .

The CWB released its  updated PRO today for the 2009-10 crop.
Wheat is down $14/t for all classes except feed wheat which is only down $6/t. Durum is down $15/t and malt barley is down $7’t and feed barley in the A Pool is off $5/t. See accompanying story for more details.

That’s all for today.
Brian

About The Author

Brian Wittal

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.

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