The weather played a role in canola and wheat futures’ movement last week.
The November canola contract closed Friday afternoon at $610.90, up by $2.10 on the day. Future Commodity Advisor with Ventum Financial Adam Pukalo said however, the contract was down approximately 54 dollars a ton on the week. The September Minneapolis Wheat contract closed Friday at $5.95 a bushel, up six-and-a-half cents that day, but for the week, Pukalo said it was down approximately 13 cents.
Pukalo said November canola was trading on the lower end of the range, but not to the $598.80 level set on June 26th, and doesn’t believe the contract will get to that point again.
The outlook looks positive with China’s new crop purchase last week and rumours of interest of additional purchases, the hot weather across the Prairies, and a change in the U.S. weather forecast for the growing season is supportive for bean prices and canola, according to Pukalo.
Tensions in the Middle East, volatility around oil prices, and both the Canadian and U.S. Dollar going down a bit are other factors Pukalo noticed affecting the grain markets. He also noted NASDAQ entered correction territory, the DOW was down, and weaker earnings from some companies so it appears there’s a “risk-off” feeling on some commodities.
“There’s going to maybe be potentially some selling in some other grains coming up – if everybody is clicking ‘sell’ on the stock market, they often just click on ‘sell’ on the grains as well.” he said.
He will be looking at how the cooler weather forecast is going to affect crops on the Prairies as well as wanting to see stability on the markets in general.