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

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market showed independent strength coming out of the Victoria Day long weekend amid weakness in comparable oils.

Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil were all down on Tuesday, but had moved higher on Monday when the Canadian markets were closed. Crude oil was also lower as traders turned their focus to next month’s OPEC+ meeting.

At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was down more than one-tenth of a United States cent compared to Friday’s close.

Australia’s canola crop is expected to slightly decline this year due to dryness, while Ukraine’s rapeseed crop will total at least 4.1 million tonnes despite recent frost damage according to reports out of the two countries.

There were 43,482 canola contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Friday when 41,842 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 24,076 of the contracts traded.

CORN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corrected themselves on Tuesday after rallying the day before. This is the fifth time in six sessions corn prices have dropped.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Monday the country’s corn crop was 70 per cent planted as of May 19, 21 points more than last week and one point ahead of the five-year average. Emergence was one point above average at 40 per cent.

Iowa and Wisconsin are expected to see storms and rain showers today.

In total, 1.21 million tonnes of U.S. corn were shipped during the week ended May 16 according to the USDA, up 20.5 per cent from last week. Cumulative exports this marketing year were at 35.21 million tonnes, up 28.6 per cent from last year.

China imported 1.18 million tonnes of corn in April.

Crop consultant Dr. Michael Cordonnier left his South American corn production estimates unchanged at 47 million tonnes for Argentina and 112 million for Brazil.

SOYBEAN futures ended a three-day rally, but still managed to retain some of Monday’s gains. It was the biggest one-day loss since May 9.

The U.S. soybean crop was 52 per cent planted, up 17 points from the previous week and three points above average. Also, 26 per cent of the crop has emerged, five points above average.

A marketing year low of 184,128 tonnes of U.S. soybeans were shipped for export last week with cumulative exports now totalling 39.75 million tonnes, down 17.6 per cent from last year.

China imported 8.57 million tonnes of soybeans in April, mostly from Brazil.

Cordonnier also left his soybean production estimates unchanged at 50 million for Argentina and 147 million for Brazil.

The July contracts for all three major U.S. WHEAT varieties either added onto Monday’s gains or retained most of them on Tuesday. The Chicago contract hit a high of US$7.0075 per bushel before settling below the US$7/bu. mark.

Spring wheat planting in the U.S. was 79 per cent complete, 14 points above average with emergence 10 points above average at 43 per cent.

Also, 69 per cent of the U.S. winter wheat crop was headed, 12 points above average, while conditions declined one point at 49 per cent good to excellent.

Only 205,612 tonnes of U.S. wheat were exported last week with the cumulative total now at 17.87 million tonnes, down 6.8 per cent from last year.

China imported 6.24 million tonnes of wheat in April, up 3.4 per cent from last year.

IKAR cut its Russian wheat production forecast by 2.5 million tonnes at 83.5 million.