Jan. 15 –– Outside markets were all lower today with gold, crude oil and financial indicators all taking some rather hard hits to finish off the week. This, along with continued speculative selling pressure, pushed grains lower on the day and the week
The U.S. dollar index climbed 44-100ths of a cent today. Gold closed down $12.50 at $1,130.10, down $8.10 from last week’s close.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.71 cents to close at US97.08 cents today, up 0.15 cents this week.
The Dow Jones March contract closed down 100 points at 10,563 today, down only three points this week. In the energy sector, crude oil closed down $1.39 at US$78 per barrel, down $4.75 this week.
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Corn closed down nine to 9.4 cents a bushel today, down 51.6 cents a bushel this past week. Beans closed down 10-17.2 cents a bushel, down 48 cents this week.
Wheat markets closed down 14.2-17.6 cents a bushel today; Minneapolis March futures closed down 16.2 cents a bushel, down 54.6 cents this week.
Canola closed down $3.20-$3.70 per tonne today, down $17.60 per tonne this past week.
Western barley closed at $152 per tonne, down $1.10 per tonne this week.
No new news and heading into a weekend were all it took for grain futures to take another slide down the ladder. It’s going to take a few weeks of solid export sales and shipments reports to convince the markets that they should try to turn around and go back up — or some weather event somewhere in the world that would convince the markets that next year’s production is being threatened. If either of these happen, we may see a slow reversal in the current downward trend, but if nothing changes, you can expect the current trend to stay in place until springtime.
It’s beautiful weather out there. Check your bins!
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 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.
