By Terryn Shiells, Commodity News Service Canada
May 3, 2013
WINNIPEG – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were narrowly mixed Friday morning, showing little to no reaction to a supportive stocks report from Statistics Canada.
According to StatsCan, Canadian canola stocks as of March 31, 2013 totalled 3.91 million metric tonnes, which compares with 5.20 million at the same time in 2012 and pre-report expectations of around 4.20 million.
But, traders believe that Statistics Canada’s 2012/13 canola production number is understated, and therefore don’t believe the stocks number, analysts said.
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Canola values were undermined by forecasts calling for warmer, drier weather across western Canada next week, which will help producers get into the fields.
The liquidation of positions ahead of the weekend was also responsible for some of the price weakness, as was firmness in the value of the Canadian dollar.
On the other side, prices found support as some of the buying seen in outside oilseeds, including the Chicago soybean complex, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed spilled over into canola.
Steady commercial demand also underpinned values, as did slow farmer selling.
As of 8:38 CDT, about 3,310 canola contracts had traded.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were untraded and unchanged Friday morning.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:38 CDT:
