North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola, grains seeing red

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market resumed its downturn due to tariffs imposed by the United States and China.

An analyst said canola is testing its contract lows and it will need to “punch through them” in order to regain stability in the market.

Statistics Canada projected 2025-26 canola acres to total 21.646 million, down 1.7 per cent from last year. The data was collected before the U.S. and China implemented tariffs on Canadian imports.

Chicago soyoil and European rapeseed were down while Malaysian palm oil is up. Crude oil was stronger due to a weaker U.S. dollar.

At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was up nearly four-tenths of a U.S. cent compared to Tuesday’s close. The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points at 2.75 per cent earlier today.

There were 72,833 contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 84,708 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 33,228 of the contracts traded.

The May SOYBEAN contract at the Chicago Board of Trade declined for the fourth straight day on Wednesday, falling below the US$10 per bushel mark for the first time in a week before ending the day above it.

In Statistics Canada’s principal field crops report released on Wednesday, the agency estimated 2025-26 soybean acres at 5.635 million, down 1.3 per cent from last year.

ANEC projected Brazil’s March soybean exports to be 15.45 million tonnes, up from 14.8 million in previous estimates and  15 per cent more than last year’s total.

Workers at soybean processing plants in Argentina will go on a nationwide strike starting today due to a wage dispute with conglomerate Vicentin.

The May CORN contract had its biggest one-day loss in seven sessions and fell to its lowest price since March 3.

StatCan projected 3.769 million acres of corn to be seeded later this year, up 3.2 per cent from 2024.

Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said U.S. ethanol could be one of the many goods targeted in a second round of retaliatory tariffs. Canada is the largest foreign buyer of ethanol from the U.S.

In the U.S. Midwest, temperatures are expected to warm up to around 20 degrees Celsius before cold and wet weather arrives this weekend.

While the May Kansas City hard red WHEAT contract eked out a small gain, its Chicago and Minneapolis counterparts each showed slight losses.

StatCan pegged 2025-26 all wheat acres in Canada at 27.475 million, up 2.6 per cent from last year. Estimated durum acres stayed steady at 6.367 million, winter wheat acres jumped 15.1 per cent at 1.687 million and spring wheat acres increased 2.5 per cent at 19.421 million.

The Canadian Drought Monitor reported that 23 per cent of Prairie agricultural land was impacted by abnormal dryness or some form of drought as of Feb. 28, slightly less than the previous two months, but down more than a third from the end of November.

Jordan issued a tender to buy up to 120,000 tonnes of wheat.