North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola, wheat rise higher

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market continued its up-and-down trade on Thursday, going into positive territory as comparable oils moved in both directions.

European rapeseed was mixed, crude oil was up and Chicago soyoil was relatively steady. Malaysian palm oil was not traded due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

A tightening supply situation will likely necessitate price rationing in the coming months.

An analyst said the Brazilian harvest pace was ramping up due to warmer weather, which would pressure soybean prices and possibly spillover into canola.

At mid-afternoon, the Canadian dollar was up more than one-tenth of a United States cent compared to Wednesday’s close. The Bank of Canada announced on Wednesday it cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points at three per cent. The U.S. Federal Reserve also announced it left its interest rates unchanged.

There were 40,812 contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 41,188 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 26,398 of the contracts traded.

The March contracts for all three major U.S. WHEAT varieties reached their highest levels since November on Thursday.

The United States Department of Agriculture reported 456,100 tonnes of 2024-25 wheat were sold for export during the week ended Jan. 23, near the higher end of trade estimates. Peru and El Salvador purchased a combined 24,200 tonnes of 2025-26 wheat from the U.S. as well.

Ukraine’s farm minister said the country planted 11.1 million acres of winter wheat this year.

SovEcon lowered its 2024-25 Russian wheat export forecast by 900,000 tonnes at 42.8 million.

India is forecasting temperatures to be five degrees Celsius above normal in February, which would damage the country’s wheat, rapeseed and chickpea crops.

The March CORN contract at the Chicago Board of Trade failed to exceed US$5/bu., instead retreating from its eight-month high attained on Wednesday.

The USDA reported export sales of 1.359 million tonnes of 2024-25 corn for the week ended Jan. 23, 18 per cent less than the previous week but still within trade expectations. In addition, 45,800 tonnes of 2025-26 corn were sold to Japan.

Ukraine’s farm minister said he expects the country to produce 80 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds in 2025, including a bigger corn harvest. Last year, 76 million tonnes were grown.

SOYBEANS erased the gains made on Wednesday for their biggest one-day losses in two weeks as the South American harvest ramped up.

Net export sales for 2024-25 soybeans were 438,000 tonnes for the week ended Jan. 23, below the lower end of trade expectations and down 71 per cent from the previous week. In addition, 4,500 tonnes of 2025-26 soybeans were sold to Japan.

Also, 410,300 tonnes of soymeal were sold, up 97 per cent from the previous week, as well as 12,500 tonnes of soyoil.

A cargo of soymeal belonging to Louis Dreyfus from the southern Brazilian port of Paranagua was returned for reprocessing, the company said Wednesday. The cargo’s origin was Louis Dreyfus’s factory in Ponta Grossa within the state of Parana.