By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, July 30 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was weaker on Thursday, backing away from nearby highs as speculators took profits and the recent strength encouraged some farmer selling.
The November contract had hit a fresh six-month high of C$493.70 in early trade, before retreating to end at C$490.10 per tonne.
In addition to the overbought price sentiment, canola was also pressured by the relatively favourable crop prospects across Western Canada.
However, there were still enough areas of concern to keep some weather premiums in the market.
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A weaker tone in the Canadian dollar and gains in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil also provided some spillover support for canola.
About 23,312 canola contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 21,104 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 12,584 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were mostly higher on Thursday as solid export demand provided support.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported weekly U.S. soybean export sales of a whopping 3.3 million tonnes for delivery during the new crop year, with an additional 257,000 tonnes of old crop business.
The combined sales were the largest weekly total since 2012, although most of it had already been confirmed through daily updates.
Good Midwestern crop conditions kept a lid on the upside.
CORN futures were also supported by good export demand.
Weekly U.S. corn export sales were in line with trade estimates at around 600,000 tonnes. The USDA also announced flash sales this morning of 1.9 million tonnes of corn to China and an additional 130,000 tonnes to other unknown destinations.
WHEAT futures were mixed on Thursday, with gains in Minneapolis spring wheat and losses in the winter wheats. Speculative positioning and seasonal harvest pressure behind some of the declines.
Weekly U.S. wheat export sales came in at 676,000 tonnes, which was up by about 10 per cent on the week and above market expectations.
Declining production estimates out of Argentina and Russia were also somewhat supportive.
