Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s been a volatile year for Lethbridge barley with prices moving as high as $300 per tonne in early summer, Jim Beusekom, grain broker at MarketPlace Commodities in Lethbridge, Alberta, said, before noting that a bumper crop sent the market in a steep decline that’s expected to continue into 2014. “Well, we went from a […] Read more
Lethbridge barley prices still looking for a bottom
ICE canola sets new daily volume record
Reading Time: < 1 minute Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform posted record daily trade volumes on Tuesday, Dec. 10, far surpassing the previous record which was set only a week earlier. There were 68,962 canola contracts traded on the Winnipeg-based electronic market on December 10, according to preliminary trade data. That’s well above the previous daily […] Read more
Burdensome canola supplies trump steady demand
Reading Time: 3 minutes ICE Futures Canada canola futures finished 2013 at a much weaker point than where they started, with prices losing over $150 per tonne over the course of the year. Wheat, corn and soybeans in the U.S. were also down considerably, as bumper crops across North America led to burdensome supplies of the major grains and […] Read more
Analysis: Perky EU wheat prices may turn around U.S. market
Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. winter wheat futures have languished near their lowest levels in more than a year following a healthy start to the young U.S. winter wheat crop and a general easing in global supply balances due to strong production in Canada, the EU and elsewhere. But strong import demand in such places as China and Egypt […] Read more
More downside risk than upside potential for corn prices?
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the week after the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) November 8, 2013 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, corn prices initially rose, only to begin a week-long decline. The immediate response can be attributed to U.S. corn production numbers that were slightly below trade estimates while the utilization numbers were above […] Read more
U.S. corn exports seen second smallest in 20 years, despite record crop
Last year’s drought taught importers to look elsewhere and taught the rest of the world to plant corn
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters / The United States, which once supplied three-quarters of all corn traded globally, has seen its market share erode with the emergence of rival suppliers in South America and eastern Europe and a record-large U.S. crop this season will do little to revive its corn export dominance. Several years of historically high prices have […] Read moreEU prepares new GMO maize cultivation approval
If it goes ahead, the insect-resistant maize would become only the second GM crop to be approved for production in the EU
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters / The European Union is on course to approve cultivation of a new type of genetically modified maize for the first time in more than a decade, according to a draft proposal from the bloc’s executive seen by Reuters. The proposal was drawn up after Europe’s second-highest court in October blamed the European Commission […] Read moreDespite rhetoric, China positions for rising corn imports
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters / China says it will remain self-sufficient in corn. Thing is, most analysts think that it will struggle to meet that goal, and the government’s actions seem to show that it agrees. Despite the rhetoric, the government has been positioning itself for an increasing corn shortfall, approving Argentina and Ukraine as new suppliers and […] Read more
Big supplies still sit heavy on canola values
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNSC / ICE Futures Canada canola held rangebound for the most part during the week ended Nov. 15, but dropped sharply on Friday to settle with losses overall. The January contract tested the psychological $500-per-tonne level a couple of times during the week, but never managed to settle above that chart point. A firmer tone […] Read more
Prairie wheat bids continue downward trend
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNSC / Cash bids for western Canadian spring wheat continued to move lower during the week ended Nov. 4. Average spot bids for CWRS 13.5 per cent protein across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in at around $219 per tonne ($5.95 per bushel) based on pricing available from a cross-section of delivery points — which […] Read more