By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, April 24 – ICE Canada canola contracts were higher Friday morning, taking strength from yesterday’s Statistics Canada forecast.
StatsCan estimated canola area at 19.4 million acres in its canola acreage estimate which compares to the 20.3 million acres seeded last year. That estimate also came in at the low end of what many in the trade expected to see which was supportive.
Slow farmer selling contributed to the upside along with European rapeseed futures which were slightly higher.
However, recent strength in the Canadian dollar was bearish, as it made canola less attractive to domestic crushers and exporters.
The US soy complex and Malaysian palm oil were lower which dragged on values.
The South American soybean harvest is progressing well which limited the gains.
About 3,300 canola contracts had traded as of 8:50 CDT.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:50 CDT:
