Prices up, head counts down at auction sales

Prices up, head counts down at auction sales

Lower Chicago corn futures have been supportive for values

Manitoba cattle auctions were a mixed bag for the short pre-Easter week ending April 6, with some closed and others having regular sales. It will be a similar situation the following week, all leading to a noticeable decline in the number of cattle coming to auction. “We are starting to see numbers dropping off. We

ICE November 2023 canola with Bollinger bands (20,2) and May 2023 canola (black line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: New-crop November canola set to step back

StatCan not expected to sway futures much

MarketsFarm — There is presently little upside to new-crop November canola on ICE Futures, according to analyst Errol Anderson of ProMarket Communications in Calgary. Anderson pointed to losses in Malaysian palm oil and weakness in China’s soymeal market as weighing on ICE canola values, with more pressure coming out of South America. “The [soybean] production


Attention will turn to the weather as spring planting approaches.

Canola futures edge downward after good run

New crop canola was especially hard hit and now the trade is watching weather

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. That’s exactly what happened to canola futures on the Intercontinental Exchange at the close of trading March 30, as the Canadian oilseed marked its first losses since March 22. That past Wednesday, the nearby May contract lost $9.40 to close at $720

Detail from the front of the CBOT building in Chicago. (Vito Palmisano/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: U.S. planted acres in flux

USDA's next WASDE due out Tuesday; ending stocks expected to increase

MarketsFarm — Ahead of the April supply and demand report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Scott Capinegro of Barrington Commodities said he expects ending stocks to increase — while planted acres are likely to change. “After looking at the [quarterly grain] stocks numbers, you would think they would be lowering ending stocks just


(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Reds higher, durum dips

U.S. wheat futures up on the week

MarketsFarm — Wheat prices on the Canadian Prairies saw modest increases in the red spring varieties during the week ended Thursday, while durum stepped back. Significant gains in the U.S. wheat complex spilled over into Canadian cash prices, but stronger Canadian dollar tempered further increases. Ongoing concerns about dry conditions in the U.S., especially the

Cattle influx, prices remain strong

Cattle influx, prices remain strong

Steady demand keeps market aloft, but animal numbers are dwindling

The number of cattle heading to Manitoba’s weekly auctions has remained strong and is likely to remain so for the coming weeks, according to Allan Munroe of the Killarney Auction Mart. For Killarney’s March 20 sale 1,468 head were auctioned. “A big part of it was 1,200 of them were coming from the week before,”


ICE July 2023 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Not a matter of when, but where canola peaks

Prevailing trend remains downward

MarketsFarm — As the rally in canola on ICE Futures continued Wednesday, an analyst stressed it’s not when this upswing ends, but where. David Derwin of PI Financial in Winnipeg spoke of when canola prices were falling, and they broke through that psychological barrier of $800 per tonne on their way down. “That was the

Emerging corn plants in Canada. (Sophie-Caron/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: More acres expected for U.S. corn, soybeans, wheat

USDA acreage projections due out March 31

MarketsFarm — With expectations of far fewer prevent-planting acres for 2023-24, Terry Reilly of Futures International has called for increases in planted area for corn, soybeans and wheat in the U.S. this spring. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is scheduled to release its planting projections on March 31. Reilly pegged planted corn acres at


(Dave Bedard photo)

Little change in barley acres expected

Malt barley prices mainly steady

MarketsFarm — As spring planting approaches, Peter Watt of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) said there likely won’t be a big shift in barley acres that will be planted in 2023. “Producers have made their [planting] decisions for the most part. You might see people adjust their plans a little bit based on

Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures in degrees Celsius for the week centred on March 15, 2023. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

No big changes in current weather patterns

Potential for some precipitation in early April

MarketsFarm — With spring officially underway, don’t expect a lot of major changes in the current weather patterns across the Canadian Prairies and the U.S. northern Plains, according to Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. at Overland Park, Kansas. “For the rest of March, it’s status quo, it will stay cold. We’re not going to