By Ashley Robinson, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Oct. 18 (CNS) – The ICE Futures canola platform
were weaker at market close, following the lead of soybeans.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybeans, oil and meal contracts
finished the day lower. Soybean contracts were down more than 20
cents.
The canola crop in Saskatchewan is 67 per cent harvested as
of Monday, according to Thursday’s provincial crop report. This
is six percentage points up from the previous week, but still
well behind average for this time of year.
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getting back into the fields due to the recent warm and dry
weather. It is expected next week’s crop reports will show more
progress. There is still concern though about the quality of the
crop following the cold and wet weather.
Producer deliveries are continuing and there are thoughts
they will increase as more crop comes off the field.
About 20,014 canola contracts traded, which compares with
Wednesday when 29,116 contracts changed hands. Spreading
accounted for 15,208 of the contracts traded.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) export sales
came in at 290,000 tonnes this week, which was below estimates.
China’s soybean imports are set to fall by a quarter for
the last three months of 2018. This would mark their biggest
drop in about 12 years and comes in the midst of a trade war
between China and the U.S.
China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe held talks with U.S.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis at a regional security summit
Thursday in Singapore. The two agreed to “find time” for further
negotiations. This came after a meeting between the two men that
scheduled for earlier this month was cancelled due to tensions
between the countries.
CBOT corn prices finished the day weaker.
USDA weekly export sales were at 380,000 tonnes, which was
below estimates.
Ukraine corn prices are continuing to weaken as their
harvest hits the halfway done mark. There are reports that they
are seeing very good yields.
Wheat futures in the U.S. finished the day in the red.
The Saskatchewan spring wheat harvest is 72 per cent done
as of Monday, according to the crop report. This was up seven
percentage points from the previous week.
Weekly export sales for the U.S. were at 475,000 tonnes,
which was in-line with estimates. U.S. wheat is currently more
expensive than Russian wheat, which is slowing U.S. exports.
The Russian wheat harvest continues to grow with the crop
currently coming it at 72.7 million tonnes, which is down from
last year. The crop has been down by 15 per cent consistently on
a hectare by hectare comparison.
