North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola hangs on, grains drop

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market saw earlier gains soften on Wednesday but remained on the plus side.

While Chicago soyoil was down, Malaysian palm oil was up and European rapeseed was mostly higher. Crude oil also made gains due to supply uncertainty.

Tightening supply issues in Canada underpinned canola, but the threat of tariffs by the United States loomed in the background.

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

There were 54,224 contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 55,886 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 38,142 of the contracts traded.

The March CORN contract at the Chicago Board of Trade reached a new nine-month high on Wednesday, but closed the day below the US$5 per bushel mark.

Most of the central United States will see warmer-than-normal temperatures in late February and early March, with precipitation to be above-normal in the Plains and Midwest during that period.

February corn exports from Brazil are expected to total 1.28 million tonnes according to ANEC, down 20,000 from the previous estimate.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange cut its Argentine corn production estimate by one million tonnes at 46 million. The exchange said corn rated good to excellent was down nine points at 16 per cent, while the corn rated poor to very poor was up two points at 49 per cent.

Although March SOYBEANS hit its highest level since Feb. 11, it fell back to end its three-day rally on Wednesday.

ANEC projected Brazilian soybean exports at 9.72 million tonnes in February, down from the previous estimate of 10.1 million.

Brazil’s AgroConsult cut their estimate for the country’s soybean crop by 1.1 million tonnes at 172.4 million.

Major shipping firms are urging the International Maritime Organization to avoid crop-based biofuels including palm and soyoil in a push to decarbonise the shipping industry.

March WHEAT contracts saw their rallies snap, with Chicago soft wheat ending the day beneath US$6/bu.

Texas wheat ratings declined this week at 24 per cent poor, 36 per cent fair and 28 per cent good, the state government reported.

Russian wheat exporters can only deliver up to 8.1 million tonnes by the end of the current marketing year, said grain shipment company Rusagrotrans. For the whole marketing year, projected wheat exports are expected to total 42 million tonnes, down from 55.5 million last year.

Japan issued a tender of 96,160 tonnes of wheat combined from Canada, Australia and the U.S. with at least 34,890 tonnes coming from the latter.