Friday January 9, 2013



Commodity
Period
Price  
Weekly Movement - Wednesday to Friday
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Corn CBOT
Mar
6.9500
?
9.50
cents
Soybeans CBOT
Jan
14.1800
?
36.00
cents
Wheat CBOT
Mar
7.4550
?
0.25
cents
Wheat Minn.
Mar
8.4050
?
0.25
cents
Wheat Kansas
Mar
8.0125
?
10.00
cents
 
 
 
 
 
 
Canadian $
Dec
1.0190
?
62.00
points

Financial markets made small advances after finding support from better than expected earnings from Alcoa Inc., the third largest aluminum producer in the world. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported that December housing starts came down 1.7% from November. CMHC indicated the dip is due to fewer starts in rural areas of the country while urban starts remained stable. TransCanada announced plans to build a $CAD 5 billion natural gas pipeline from the North Montney gas-producing region in Western Canada to a Pacific Coast port. The news comes at a time when Canadian oil companies are scrambling to build new pipeline networks to feed new markets like China. Canada's biggest trading partner, the US, is ramping up its own production of oil and gas, leaving Canada with potentially lower export numbers.
Corn
Corn was up in Chicago following fears of a dry and warm winter ahead of spring planting. Crop experts fear another bout of the La Nina weather re-emerging. The USDA is expected to trim corn numbers in the upcoming crop report on Friday, including final estimates of the US corn harvests and stockpiles.
Soybeans
USDA soybean production estimates are expected to increase in the upcoming Friday crop report, having benefited from late rains in the growing season. Meanwhile, soybean shipments from Argentina, the world’s largest exporter, are halted due to a strike at the country’s grain ports. Workers are calling for  a wage increase.
WHEAT
Wheat was lower in Chicago following news from France indicating an increase in the stockpiles outlook by 17% from last month. France will have 2.29 million metric tons of soft wheat in storage, up from 1.96 metric tons. The US government declared majority of the southern Wheat Belt, including areas in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas, a natural disaster area due to the ongoing drought that’s impacting this year's winter wheat harvest.
Contract prices for January 9, 2013 3:30pm, are as follows:
SWW at $249.16 per tonne ($6.78/bu), HRW at $252.79 per tonne ($6.88/bu.),
HRS at $270.97 per tonne ($7.37/bu.), and SRW at $243.71 per tonne ($6.63/bu.).
       Ontario Grain Market Commentary for January 9, 2013
       By Ahmed Chilmeran, Grain Farmers of Ontario