North American Grain and Oilseed Review: Canola finishes in with dip
U.S. soybeans, corn higher, as wheat slips back
Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures closed steady to lower on Friday, unable to hang on to gains in the last minutes of trading.
It was a similar circumstance with MATIF rapeseed which was also steady to lower. Small losses in crude oil applied additional pressure on the vegetable oils.
The declines were tempered by increases in Chicago soybeans and soyoil, along with Malaysian palm oil.
Despite the losses in the January canola contract, it remained above its 20- and 50-day moving averages and less than C$6 behind its 100-day average.
Statistics Canada will release its next production report on Dec. 4 with canola set to exceed the 20.03 million tonnes estimated in September.
Canola exports continued to suffer from a lack of sales to China. Cumulative exports tallied 1.93 million tonnes by the week ended Nov. 23, down about 1.76 million tonnes from a year ago.
The Canadian dollar swung higher on Friday afternoon with the loonie at 71.56 U.S. cents compared to Thursday’s close of 71.26.
There were 34,542 contracts traded on Friday, compared to 20,768 on Thursday. Spreading accounted for 23,942 contracts traded.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:
Price Change
Canola Jan 650.70 dn 0.90
Mar 664.00 dn 0.50
May 674.40 unchanged
Jul 679.50 unchanged
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were higher on Friday, getting strength from gains in soy while tempered by losses in soymeal.
Trading resumed following the United States Thanksgiving holiday, although hours were shortened, which led to thin volumes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a private sale for 312,000 tonnes of 2025/26 soybeans to China. On Monday, there was a sale to China for 123,000 tonnes of 2025/26 U.S. soybeans. Since October, China has bought nearly 2.25 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans as the Trump administration remains adamant China will buy 12 million tonnes before Jan. 1, despite the absence of a signed U.S./China trade deal.
As the USDA continued to slowly catch up on missed sales reports from the federal government shutdown, it released the report for the week ended Oct. 16. Soybean export sales were 1.10 million tonnes, those for soymeal were 543,119 tonnes and soyoil came in at 19,113 tonnes. There were bean sales to China that week.
China stopped buying Brazilian soybeans from five companies after shipments were reportedly contaminated.
Agroconsult increased its call on the 2025/26 Brazil soybean crop by six million tonnes, now at 178.10 million. The consultancy projected the country’s soybean exports at 109.1 million tonnes, up 2.7 per cent from 2024/25.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange estimated 34 per cent of Argentina’s soybeans have been planted.
The Ukrainian oilseed harvest has bought in so far 9.01 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, 4.74 million of soybeans and 3.32 million of rapeseed.
CORN futures were higher on Friday, in sympathy with soybeans.
The USDA said there was a private sale for 273,988 tonnes of 2025/26 corn to unknown destinations.
For that Oct. 16 sales export report, corn came to 2.82 million tonnes for 2025/26 and 571,502 tonnes for 2026/27.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported ethanol production for the week ended Nov. 21 averaged 1.11 million barrels per day, up 22,000 BPD from the previous week. Ethanol stocks dropped 339,000 barrels at 21.97 million.
Corn planting in Argentina is said to be 39 per cent finished.
To date, the Ukrainian corn harvest reached 22.48 million tonnes.
WHEAT futures were lower on Friday, due to increases in the amount of wheat grown elsewhere in the world.
The USDA reported Oct. 16 wheat export sales of 341,306 tonnes.
The European Commission pegged 2025/26 wheat production in the European Union at 134.2 million tonnes, up 800,000 from the commission’s previous estimate. Ending stocks were upped 700,000 tonnes at 11.50 million.
France placed its wheat crop at 97 per cent good to excellent as of Monday, down one point on the week but 10 ahead of the same time last year.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange upped its forecast on the Argentina wheat crop by 1.50 million tonnes at 25.50 million. If the prediction holds, it will make for Argentina’s largest wheat crop on record.
Ukraine reported its ongoing wheat harvest reached 22.96 million tonnes.
