North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola, soybeans on the rise

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market held onto its small gains on Wednesday, but settled well off its session highs after rising to its strongest levels of 2024 earlier in the day.

Canola was supported by Chicago soyoil and European rapeseed. However, crude oil was down after reports suggested a growth in United States stockpiles.

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

There were 40,863 canola contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 43,482 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 17,210 of the contracts traded.

CORN contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) closed higher, for the second time in three days, but appeared to be in rangebound patterns.

Severe storms, including tornadoes and flash floods, hit a large portion of the United States Midwest on Tuesday, bringing nearly 20 millimetres of rain to much of Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of South Dakota. Rains will continue to fall onto the western U.S. Corn Belt over the next couple of days delaying planting progress with the eastern half receiving precipitation this weekend.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported two large export sales on Tuesday, 113,050 tonnes of old and new crop corn to Mexico and 110,000 tonnes of old crop corn to Spain.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported ethanol production averaged 1.019 million barrels per day for the week ended May 17, up 19,000 from the previous week. Soyoil stocks were down 277,000 barrels at 24.212 million.

Agroconsult estimated Brazil’s safrinha corn crop production at 96.7 million tonnes, down 10.5 per cent from last year but more than 10 million tonnes above Conab’s estimate.

The July SOYBEAN contract rose for the fourth time in five sessions on Tuesday where the day’s high was just a quarter below the US$12.50 per bushel mark.

Soybean growing regions were also affected by the severe storms in the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday and flooding will likely delay planting this week. However, conditions are expected to improve next week.

China has purchased two 60,000-tonne cargoes of U.S. soybeans for July shipment, according to reports. U.S. soybeans have become more attractive to buyers due to rising port basis in Brazil.

In the southern part of Brazil, rains will continue over the next six days.

U.S. WHEAT varieties settled lower on Wednesday, despite the July contracts hitting their highest values in at least six months.

Support for U.S. wheat futures has come from lowered projections for the size of Eastern Europe’s upcoming wheat crop and wet growing conditions in Western Europe.

The Illinois Wheat Association projected record yields after a one-day crop tour of the state, forecasting an average yield of 104 bushels per acre, which could eclipse last year’s record of 97.1. However, fusarium head blight and disease pressure could lower yields.

Most of the U.S. Southern Plains has been forecast to be dry next week, but soft red wheat growing areas could see between 25 to 75 mm of rain.