Flooding tempers wheat estimates

The world's farmers will produce only slightly more wheat in 2011, the Canadian Wheat Board said Friday, even as food inflation spurred protests this month and pumped up grain values.

In its first market outlook of 2011, the Wheat Board said that despite attractive prices, global wheat production would be reined in by drought in Russia and potential flooding in Canada, as well as high prices of competing crops ahead of planting season in the Northern Hemisphere.

"In terms of food inflation, at the current projection there isn't going to be a huge issue," said Bruce Burnett, the Wheat Board's director of weather and market analysis, in an interview from Saskatoon.

"But if we were to see a couple of weather events happen that move that (production) number lower towards last year or even lower, especially in a major exporting region, then certainly there would be more concerns."

The world will produce 649.5 million tonnes of all types of wheat, up 0.6 percent from the 2010 crop, he said. Canada will harvest 23.8 million tonnes of wheat, the CWB said, up 2.9 percent from last year.

Food price protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East reached Jordan Friday, but a senior official with the Food and Agriculture Organization played down concerns that tighter food supplies could cause a repeat of the 2008 food crisis because stocks were ample.

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CALGARY -- TransCanada Corp. said on Friday that Canadian regulators have rejected an interim toll agreement that would have lowered the cost of shipping gas on its massive main line natural-gas system.

The company said the National Energy Board left 2011 interim tolls at the same rates currently in effect, setting aside an agreement between the company and Canadian natural-gas producers that would have seen tolls fall in order to boost flagging volumes on the pipeline network.

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TORONTO -- Technology licensing company Wi-LAN Inc. said on Friday that chipmaker Intel had agreed to pay it to use patented technology, ending all litigation between the two companies.

WiLAN did not disclose the value of the settlement.

"WiLAN expects a final definitive agreement to be signed within the next few weeks," it said in a statement.

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OTTAWA -- A tiny Canadian startup company that is preparing to open a biodiesel plant in Toronto this spring says it will produce clean fuel, animal feed and human food all from the modest flax seed.

Privately held Energy Innovation Corp, which has also developed a way to produce biofuel from used coffee grounds, said its production process creates multiple revenue streams, but no waste.

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TORONTO -- The volume of trade on Canada's Venture exchange set a new record on Thursday -- 608,723,293 shares, surpassing the previous record of 527,777,070 set on Nov. 9, 2010.

For 2010, volume on the junior exchange was almost 68 billion shares, which represents a 45 per cent increase over 2009, TMX Group Inc. announced Friday.

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TORONTO -- Canadian heavy oil producer Baytex Energy Trust has agreed to buy heavy oil assets in the Seal area of Northern Alberta and Lloydminster area of western Saskatchewan for $156.5 million.

Baytex raised its production outlook to 49,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) from its Dec. 7 view of 47,000 to 48,000 bbl/d, while keeping its capital budget for 2011 at $325 million.

The company forecast production of about 2,600 barrels a day of oil from the acquired assets for the year, with about 65 per cent of it expected from the Seal area.

The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2011.

(Source: : http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Flooding+tempers+wheat+estimates/4113470/story.html)