Nov. 3 — Financial markets were mixed while energy markets showed some continued strength rebounding on the overnight trade, and this carried over into today’s trade as well.
The U.S. dollar rose four 100ths of a cent today, while the Canadian dollar closed up 0.98 cents today at US93.67 cents.
The Dow Jones December quote closed down 15 points at 9,720 today.
Crude oil closed up $1.47 a barrel today at US$79.60.
Corn closed up seven to nine cents a bushel today, while beans closed up nine to 14 cents a bushel.
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Wheat futures were mixed, up one to down two cents a bushel today. Minneapolis December wheat closed down two cents a bushel for the day.
Canola closed up $1-$1.90 per tonne today.
November Western barley futures closed up 10 cents at $168 per tonne.
Rumour has it that a number of speculative interests have been pushing gold futures up the last couple of days so that commodity futures will hopefully follow and go up as well. These speculators are reported to have large long positions in commodities and the recent slump means they will take a large loss, so they are trying to push commodities back up to values where they can break even or, better yet, make a profit.
What you can’t do with a lot of money! If these rumours are true, one has to wonder, whatever happened to the intent of the markets, the laws of supply and demand and true price discovery?
It is still a very mixed picture in the U.S.. with some areas resuming harvest while other areas are too wet to start. No one has a clear picture as to the extent of damage or production loss that can be expected from the weather of the past month, so most of the trade remained on the sidelines, opting to wait and see what happens as the week progresses.
Hurts our image
Protocols around the testing of flax for genetically modified (GM) varieties being exported from Canada to the European Union have been jointly developed and presented to the EU nations in the hopes that the protocols will be accepted by all of them, so Canada can continue to ship flax to its No. 1 market. This came about after a GM flax variety was found to be present in a shipment to the EU a couple of months back, which resulted in a suspension of any further shipments until the issue could be resolved.
As a major grain-exporting country, in an industry which includes producers, we need to be more conscious of what it is we’re shipping and do what we can to insure the integrity of the product we ship, or we will continue to have new protocols and or regulations put in place by our customers as they try to ensure food safety and address their phytosanitary concerns, whether we feel they’re legitimate or not.
Sluffing off old product into shipments, even a few bushels, can cause an entire 100,000-tonne shipment to be downgraded or rejected, which in the long run just hurts our image as a reliable high-quality exporting country.
In today’s highly competitive markets it is hard enough to keep a market, let alone maintain any kind of premiums in a market. If we continue to have these kinds of issues, our customers are certainly not going to be willing to pay a premium and might even go elsewhere if quality assurance is an issue.
Remember the old adage, “The customer is always right” — especially if you want to keep them as a customer. My two cents worth.
That’s all for today. — Brian
— Brian Wittal has spent over 27 years in the grain industry, including as an elevator manager and producer services representative for Alberta Wheat Pool, a regional sales manager for AgPro Grain and farm business representative for the Canadian Wheat Board, where he helped design some of the new pricing programs. He also operates his own company providing marketing and risk management advice for Prairie grain producers. Brian’s daily commentaries focus on how domestic and world market conditions affect you directly as grain producers.
Brian welcomes feedback and information on market conditions in your area, such as current offering prices, basis levels, trucking premiums and special crops contracts. Contact Brian today.
