As we predicted in last week’s Friday column, grains started to pick up some steam in the second week of March, as the monthly WASDE report from the USDA was published. Global ending stocks were lowered a bit but the better catalyst for the move was the grains complex, which finally started to track oil’s... Read More
Category: Markets
Grains started the month of March fairly hot, trying to rebound from its end of February, with more liquidity being added to the market and more bulls coming to the table on weather concerns. Nonetheless, given the size of the short position that managed money is holding on the futures board, there are some fundamentals... Read More
Satellites are helping depict a clearer picture (literally) of what Canadian farmers grow each year. Accurately predicting and measuring production of each crop grown in Canada has been an ongoing quest for the grain industry and government agencies since farming began in North America. Or at least since the start of the 20th century when... Read More
While the number of CWRS wheat acres on the prairies is expected to drop by around 1.5 million, the trend toward more growing more high-yielding wheat varieties will continue, according to the general manager of FarmLink Marketing Solutions. Meanwhile, pea and lentil acres are expected to rise dramatically (surprise!), but seed supply will be a... Read More
Grains continued to trade sideways to lower through the end of February as the data points that keep coming do not support a reversal of the bearish market fundamentals. The market is taking into account more crop conditions from Europe and South America, while adjusting for the new forecasts for U.S. grain supply, demand, and... Read More
Grains this morning were able to make some gains on short-covering and more weather headlines scaring the bears away. Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. says that the longer it takes for El Nino to dissipate, the likelier that we’ll see a drier spring in western areas of the Canadian Prairies. Conversely, Lerner suggested that... Read More
Oat futures in Chicago have fallen steadily since early December, dropping to their lowest level in over five years. "They just happen to be one of the uglier (markets) at the moment, both old crop and new crop. We've seen oat futures collapse quite quickly," says Lorne Boundy, oat trader with Paterson Grain. "They've actually... Read More
Grains this week followed the rest of the commodity and equity space lower, despite the U.S. Dollar losing more than 1% for the second week of February. Some short covering towards the end of the week helped soybeans stay in the green, but all other grains listed on the board dropped. Canola was a notable... Read More
It's another year of opportunity for barley, says the barley merchandising manager for Viterra. After declining for much of the past decade, the number of barley acres in Western Canada rose slightly in 2015 and is expected to grow again in 2016. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's preliminary projection has barley acreage rising by two percent.... Read More
Cattle prices may not be where they were a year ago, but ranchers are generally still an optimistic bunch at current levels. Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock joins us in the middle of her busy winter meeting circuit for this latest edition of the Beef Market Update. Domestically, the volatile Canadian dollar continues to play... Read More