Grain markets started 2015 out on a bad foot as the first trading day of the year on Friday, January 2nd was all red. But the complex rebounded in the following days thanks to weather concerns and managed-money changing positions. Oats, corn, (Chicago) wheat, and soybeans continue to hover over some nice even numbers of… Read More
2014 started out with a lot of frustration: Grain was hardly moving through Canada as the Great White North experienced some record cold temperatures and record ice cover on the Great Lakes. With the railroads making more money moving oil, elevators couldn’t take deliveries and the amount of ships sitting at the port waiting for… Read More
Global markets were blindsided by Russia in the third week of December as Moscow raised its key interest rates to a shocking 17 per cent, up significantly from the 10.5 per cent level they had been just raised to a few days earlier. Why the rate increase? The ruble has been free-falling this year with… Read More
Rumours are building again that Russia may limit their grain exports (specifically wheat) and the government might start increasing the purchasing price from farmers for the government reserve stocks (the government is definitely worried about rising domestic food prices). This would incentivize producers to sell to the government versus grain merchants/exporters. SovEcon said earlier in… Read More
Grains started the month of December with wheat in the driver’s seat thanks to concerns out of Russia and Australia. In the Land Down Undaa, ABARES, the Aussie version of the USDA, cut its official wheat production estimate by one million tonnes (or about four per cent from its previous estimate) to 23.22 million tonnes,… Read More
Grain prices closed the month of November generally higher as colder weather and transportation issues in the U.S. helped prices maintain an elevated level. While most Americans were putting the turkey in the oven, OPEC, the cartel of major oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, declined to ease their production from the current 30 million barrels-per-day…. Read More
Rounding out the middle of November, the markets seemed to pause a bit and then dropped lower as some farmer selling increased and likely the last of U.S. corn and soybeans fields were being harvested for 2014, as most places now have too much snow on the ground. While U.S. soybean crush volumes from October show that… Read More
This just in — it’s winter. Snow is starting to fall across most areas around and above the 49th parallel, which will limit the ability to take off the remaining U.S. corn and soybean fields (some might have to wait until spring!). The cold could also have a negative effect on the winter wheat which… Read More
The grain and oilseed market started the month of November the opposite of how it ended October, as the market dropped lower on the U.S. harvest catching up to its historical average pace and a stronger U.S. dollar (which can help Canadian exports, hence basis in Western Canada narrowing recently). Lack of consistent rail service… Read More
As we say goodbye to October, colder weather is setting in just as the markets could be warming up. More than a few analysts are pointing to soy meal as a driver of the sustained rally we’ve seen in the grain markets recently, but the move is now beyond “rational levels”. With an increase in… Read More
Grains started to trek higher this week as we head towards the end of the month, mostly due to international market prices picking up pace. However, by Friday, October 24th, it appeared that the rally was short-lived as the market dropped well below its monthly highs. Specifically, canola almost made it up to $420 per… Read More
Wheat markets were up about four percent in the post-Canadian Thanksgiving rally as the grain markets all headed higher on quality and harvest progress concerns. That in mind, because of the delayed U.S. harvest, there could still be a lot of grain that doesn’t have a home on the farm and so will be sold… Read More
While some were thinking of turkey and pumpkin pie ahead of the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, the grain market got a hold of the USDA’s October WASDE report. The report pushed some volatility in trading and wheat and canola closed in the red for the week, despite their hot start and trend to the upside… Read More
Grain prices started the month of October the same way they’ve been trending for the last five months: lower. Last week saw two important reports from the USDA and Statistics Canada, recording grain inventories and ’14 production estimates respectively. With some of the earliest-planted fields of corn and soybeans coming off in the American Midwest,… Read More
Grain prices are in that seasonal rut thanks to #harvest14 selling pressure and favourable planting conditions as South America starts its seeding season. On the speculation side, hedge funds are starting to increase their optimism that grain and oilseed prices will begin to rise. That being said, in the last four decades, an ounce of… Read More