North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola, CBOT grains mixed

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market was mixed on Friday despite mostly negative sentiment in comparable oils.

Malaysian palm oil was positive, but Chicago soyoil and European rapeseed were lower. Crude oil lost more than US$1 per barrel due to rising United States stockpiles and refinery maintenance.

The Canadian Grain Commission reported 172,800 tonnes of canola exported during the week ended Feb. 16. Cumulative exports this marketing year so far total 5.845 million tonnes compared to 3.17 million one year ago.

One analyst said he is becoming hesitant to put more funds into canola due to uncertainty over tariffs. He also said there needs to be more demand rationing in the Canadian market.

At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was down two-tenths of a U.S. cent compared to Thursday’s close.

There were 56,032 contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 43,197 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 42,404 of the contracts traded.

The March CORN contract at the Chicago Board of Trade had its biggest one-day loss in 10 days and fell to its lowest level in eight days at US$4.90 per bushel on Friday.

The United States Department of Agriculture reported export sales of 2024-25 U.S. corn at 1.454 million tonnes for the week ended Feb. 13. The figure was near the higher end of trade expectations.

U.S. agricultural lender CoBank estimated 94.55 million acres of corn to be planted in the country this spring, up four per cent from last year.

The U.S. Corn Belt should see normal to below-normal temperatures starting next week and going into March.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reported Argentina’s corn crop at 19 per cent excellent, up three points from last week, and 30 per cent poor.

The March SOYBEAN contract nearly reached the US$10.50/bu. mark, but eventually ended Friday on a low note.

The USDA reported export sales of 2024-25 soybeans at 480,300 tonnes last week, also at the higher end of trade expectations. In addition, 19,300 tonnes of 2025-26 soybeans were sold to Mexico and Japan.

For U.S. soymeal, 316,900 tonnes of 2024-25 crop were sold for export, while 19,400 tonnes of soyoil were purchased.

In Argentina, heavy rains are forecast to fall over the next one to two weeks. However, conditions in Brazil will turn hot and dry in early March.

CoBank projected 84 million U.S. soybean acres this year, down 3.6 per cent from 2024.

Argentina’s soybean crop was rated at 17 per cent excellent, up two points from last week, and 34 per cent poor.

While Chicago soft WHEAT and Kansas City hard red wheat made gains on Friday, Minneapolis spring wheat saw slight declines.

The USDA counted 532,700 tonnes of 2024-25 wheat sold for export last week, as well as 98,500 tonnes of 2025-26 wheat.

CoBank projected 10 million acres for all U.S. spring wheat except durum to be planted this year, down 5.9 per cent from last year.

The Canadian Grain Commission reported 392,600 tonnes of wheat shipped for export during the week ended Feb. 16. So far this marketing year, 11.179 million tonnes were shipped compared to 11.492 million at this time last year.

FranceAgriMer reported that the French soft wheat crop improved one point to 74 per cent good to excellent.