Nov. 30 — Markets were mixed at the open, but as the day went on, buying interest seemed to improve and we saw some nice gains in most markets, especially grains.
The trade seemed to put the Dubai news aside and ignored it as the day went on, which hopefully is a good sign that the issue will be resolved in a positive manner shortly.
Grains were mixed from the start and weekly export numbers all came in below expected levels needed to hit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s yearly targets. This should have sent markets down, but the buying interest was strong enough to help the grains finish the day with some nice gains.
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Gold closed up $6.80 at $1,181.80.
The U.S. dollar closed down almost two-10ths of a cent today. The Canadian dollar closed up half a cent today at US94.6 cents.
The Dow Jones December quote closed up 42 points at 10,334 today.
Crude oil closed up $1.23 today at US$77.28 a barrel.
Corn was up three to 5.4 cents a bushel today, while beans were up 4.2 to nine cents a bushel.
Wheat markets were up 13-19 cents a bushel today. Minneapolis December wheat futures were up 18.6 cents a bushel today.
Canadian canola futures were up 40 cents to $1.40 per tonne today.
January Western barley futures were up $2.50, closing at $160.50 per tonne today.
CN’s locomotive engineers officially went on strike Saturday but it looks like the federal government is going to legislate them back to work as it does not want to see any disruption to any export business being done right now in these fragile economic times.
Lentil values look like they will continue to slowly increase as demand from India continues to push prices up and Canadian producers hold on and refuse to sell. India did experience some loss in its kharif crop due to dryness, which is what will keep India buying Canadian lentils for some time to try to replace that lost production and meet consumer demand.
Statistics Canada’s crop report is due out Thursday and it’s speculated that total canola production will be increased rather significantly in this report, which won’t help futures values any. StatsCan’s October’s estimate was 10.269 million tonnes, and it’s believed that it could be as high as 11 million tonnes in Thursday’s report, which would put a real bearish tone into the canola markets on top of the Chinese issue and CN strike.
It may be time to consider selling more old crop or some new crop at current levels. Get your pencil and calculator out, see if it’s profitable or not and go from there!
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.
