North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola, CBOT grains mostly lower

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market was mostly lower on Monday despite the strength of vegetable oils.

Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil all made gains. However, crude oil was lower, mainly due to a stronger United States dollar.

The Canadian markets will be closed on Christmas and Boxing Day, and the U.S. markets will be closed only on Dec. 25.

At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was down less than one-tenth of a U.S. cent compared to Friday’s close.

There were 44,370 canola contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 49,463 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 23,246 of the contracts traded.

United States WHEAT futures at the Chicago Board of Trade avoided negative territory for the second straight session on Monday. However, the Minneapolis March contract came just shy of the US$6 per bushel mark.

The U.S. Congress passed a new spending bill on Sunday to not only avert a government shutdown, but to provide US$10 billion in economic aid to farmers and ranchers. As a result, wheat growers in the U.S. will receive direct cash payments of US$31.80 per planted acre.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 403,719 tonnes of wheat were shipped during the week ended Dec. 19, up 34.2 per cent from the previous week. The marketing year-to-date total was 11.94 million tonnes, 27.2 per cent higher than one year ago.

Russia’s tax on wheat exports rose by US$6.14 per tonne at US$46.30 for Dec. 25 to Jan. 12. The Russian government also lowered its wheat export quota for the second half of the 2024-25 marketing year by 400,000 tonnes at 10.6 million.

The March CORN contract reached its highest price since Dec. 11 at US$4.4825/bu. before closing the day one-half of a cent off the high. It was also the contract’s third straight positive session.

U.S. corn growers will receive direct cash payments of US$43.80 per planted acre from the aid package. However, that same piece of legislation did not include year-round sales of 15 per cent ethanol-blended fuel E15.

On Friday, a trade panel ruled in favour of the U.S. saying that Mexico’s 2023 genetically modified corn import ban violated the CUSMA. Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum said she will try to pass a law to ban the planting of GMO corn next year.

The USDA reported export inspections of 1.123 million tonnes of corn. Marketing year-to-date shipments totaled 14.44 million tonnes, up 26.84 per cent from last year.

The USDA reported a private sale of 132,000 tonnes of corn to unknown destinations this morning.

The March SOYBEAN contract ended Monday in the red, despite reaching US$9.84/bu. for its highest value in six days.

U.S. soybean farmers are expected to receive US$30.61/acre in direct cash payments from Congress’s new spending bill.

The USDA reported a private export sale of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to China this morning for 2024/25 shipment.

The USDA also reported 1.747 million tonnes of soybeans shipped last week, up 56.1 per cent from one year ago. Marketing year-to-date shipments totaled 27 million tonnes, up 21.1 per cent from the previous year.