By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, June 17 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures canola contracts were steady to higher on Wednesday, following choppy activity that saw only small gains in the months for the coming crop year.
Open interest in the July contract was rapidly falling over the past week.
Manitoba Agriculture said in its latest weekly crop report that spring planting was 98 per cent complete as of June 16. There has been reseeding where crop damage was severe. Spraying has been difficult due to windy conditions.
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By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures were stronger on Thursday, in gleaning support…
The Canadian dollar was virtually unchanged at mid-afternoon at 73.77 U.S. cents.
There were 20,197 contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 29,079 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 11,692 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola Jul 473.30 unchanged
Nov 474.90 up 0.50
Jan 480.70 up 0.40
Mar 486.10 up 0.20
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were higher on Wednesday, following comments made by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
In testifying before the House of Representatives Ways and Means committee, Lighthizer said he believes China will meet their Phase One trade deal obligations for 2020. Under the agreement, China is to purchase US$40 billion in U.S. agricultural goods this year, which is US$13 billion more than they have in any other year.
Ahead of tomorrow’s export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) market expectations for soybean sales are 500,000 to 1.2 million tonnes of old crop, and 600,000 to 1.3 million tonnes of new crop. Soymeal was projected to come in at 150,000 to 300,000 tonnes, and soyoil at 5,000 to 30,000 tonnes.
Brazil said it will temporarily reduce its biodiesel blending requirement, citing a shortage of soybeans for domestic use. The requirement drop from 12 to 10 per cent effective June 21.
China said its hog herd increased 3.9 per cent from April to May. Starting in August 2018, African swine fever devastated China’s hog herd, resulting in a steep reduction of more than 40 per cent.
CORN futures were slightly higher on Wednesday, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its ethanol report.
The EIA reported production for the week ended June 12 averaged 841,000 barrels per day. Ethanol stocks declined 2.1 per cent to 21.35 million barrels. Since April 17, stocks have dropped by more than 6.3 million barrels.
WHEAT futures were mixed on Wednesday, with gains for Minneapolis and declines for Chicago and Kansas City.
Export sales of U.S. wheat are expected to be 250,000 to 500,000 tonnes.
Winter wheat yields so far in Kansas were reported better than expected.
Ukraine announced it will immediately halt issuing wheat export data until after June 30, when its new marketing year begins. The move comes after Ukraine reached it export quota of 20.2 million tonnes of wheat. Also, the country slashed its forecast for total grain production from 78.0 million to 68.0 million tonnes.
The European Union said its soft wheat exports are about 33.0 million tonnes so far this marketing year. That’s 65 per cent more than this time last year.
