By Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, February 19 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market posted gains in choppy trading Friday, as traders rolled out of the March contract, which is due to expire soon, and into the May contract.
Palm oil was relatively steady which gave canola some support, while the Canadian dollar was also weaker which encouraged overseas purchases.
Commercial buying contributed to the upside, according to a report.
Recent stability in global financial markets also lent strength to canola, an analyst said.
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However, losses in Chicago soybeans and soyoil capped the gains.
The looming South American soybean crop was bearish for values.
Losses in crude oil weighed on canola.
Milling wheat, durum and barley were all untraded and unchanged.
Around 44,456 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when around 33,069 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 30,030 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were all untraded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were down by one to two cents per bushel on Friday, as the looming South American crops countered relatively solid nearby export demand.
The soybean harvest is now underway in Brazil, and newly harvested supplies are expected to become more and more available in the weeks ahead.
Net weekly US soybean export sales came in at 595,700 tonnes, which was in line with trade estimates.
SOYOIL settled lower on Friday, with losses in crude oil behind some of the spillover selling pressure.
SOYMEAL futures were higher on Friday, as spreading against soyoil provided some support.
CORN futures in Chicago settled near unchanged on Friday, lacking any clear direction as the market consolidated ahead of the weekend.
Weekly US corn export sales came in at just over a million tonnes, which did provide some support. A fresh sale to Japan was also reported by the USDA.
However, a stronger US dollar and losses in crude oil weighed on the other side.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were steady to down two cents per bushel on Friday, as the US continues to miss out on export opportunities.
Weekly US wheat export sales of 307,800 tonnes were in line with trade guesses, but still disappointing overall, according to participants.
However, concerns that milder weather in the US winter wheat growing regions may cause early emergence and possible frost damage down the road provided some support.
– Egypt bought 180,000 tonnes of Russian wheat and 60,000 tonnes of French wheat in its latest tender.
– Russian grain stocks, as of February 1, are sitting at 31.1 million tonnes, according to the country’s statistics agency. That’s up by nearly two million tonnes from the same point the previous year. Of the total, wheat supplies were up by 14.2% at 8.9 million tonnes.
