North American Grain and Oilseed Review: Canola shows measure of strength

Canola futures on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) closed higher on Tuesday, in a show of independent strength from the Chicago soy complex.

The complex fell back, as did Malaysian palm oil. There were gains in European rapeseed, which spilled over in to canola.

After pushing higher earlier, global crude oil prices turned lower this afternoon and were putting pressure on vegetable oils.

Rain has added some much needed moisture on the dry areas of the western Prairies, but has slowed any remaining seeding on the wet eastern Prairies. Numerous acres are expected to go unplanted, especially in Manitoba.

There’s weakness in the Canadian dollar at mid-afternoon, as the United States dollar pushed higher. The loonie retreated to 77.13 U.S. cents, compared to Monday’s close of 77.77.

There were 21,711 contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 14,637 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 10,636 contracts traded.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.

Price Change
Canola Jul 1,096.30 up 9.10
Nov 1,044.40 up 15.80
Jan 1,049.60 up 15.50
Mar 1,051.10 up 15.40

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were lower on Tuesday, failing to recover any of its losses.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported soybeans planted hit 88 per cent complete as of June 12, up 10 points on the week and on par with the five-year average. In the their first rating of 2022 soybean conditions were 70 per cent good to excellent, one point better than the same time last year.

Brazil said its May soybean exports were 10.63 million tonnes, down 28.8 per cent from May 2021.

CORN futures were slightly lower on Tuesday, due to spillover from soybeans and wheat.

The USDA reported a private sale of 148,000 tonnes of corn to Mexico, about two-thirds of it old crop.

The seeding of U.S. corn was 97 per cent in the ground, bumping up three points from last week and stood even with the five-year average. The crop rated 72 per cent good to excellent, a dip of one point from a week ago.

Brazil reported its May corn exports tallied almost 1.17 million tonnes. That’s a massive increase from only 14,000 tonnes last May.

AgRural pegged the harvest of Brazil’s safrinha crop at seven per cent finished.

Dr. Michael Cordonnier of Soybean and Corn Advisor Inc. upped his call on Brazil’s total corn production for 2021/22 by 2.8 per cent at 110 million tonnes. Presently, the USDA forecast 116 million tonnes and CONAB projected 115.2 million.

WHEAT futures were weaker on Tuesday, due to the increased strength of the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. winter wheat harvest was underway in eight of the 18 states growing the crop. Overall progress doubled to 10 per cent finished, two points back of the five-year average. Conditions edged up one point at 31 per cent good to excellent.

Spring wheat planted was up 12 points at 94 per cent done, five points behind the average pace. Seeding was completed in Idaho, South Dakota and Washington, virtually complete in Montana, while Minnesota was at 92 per cent complete and North Dakota at 91. In the first rating of 2022, spring wheat was 54 per cent good to excellent, but with the crop struggling in Montana at 55 per cent fair.

Ukraine estimated that 15 million tonnes of grain storage capacity has been lost, destroyed or is inaccessible due to the Russian invasion. The country is seeking temporary storage use in friendly European countries. Also, Ukraine’s total planted area in 2022/23 is down 25 per cent from a year ago.

Tags: corn, vegetable oils, soybean, wheat, rapeseed, palm oil, futures, сanola