By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, August 13 – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were holding onto small gains at midday Thursday, although activity was subdued as participants continued to digest Wednesday’s bearish USDA production data.
Canola dropped sharply in sympathy with CBOT soybeans on Wednesday, as the USDA unexpectedly upped their estimates on the size of the US crop. Ideas that those losses were overdone helped underpin canola on Thursday, but a broker noted that aside from some modest corrective trade there was little incentive to take prices much higher.
Weakness in the Canadian dollar was also somewhat supportive for canola, according to participants.
However, CBOT soyoil and other outside vegetable oil markets were down on Thursday, which put some pressure on canola.
Bearish technical signals and the ongoing economic uncertainty in China were also overhanging the market.
About 10,500 canola contracts had traded as of 10:55 CDT.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:55 CDT:
