By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Feb. 23 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was weaker on Thursday, as bearish technical signals and spillover from declines in Chicago soyoil weighed on values.
European rapeseed futures were also down on the day, although Malaysian palm oil posted gains.
Chart-based speculative selling contributed to the declines in canola, as the futures backed away from nearby resistance. The most-active May contract failed to break above C$835 per tonne on Wednesday and retreated below its 20-day moving average near C$825 per tonne on Thursday.
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On the other side, crush margins remain historically wide which kept some end user demand in the market.
About 40,478 canola contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 32,929 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 28,330 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Thursday, seeing a continuation of Wednesday’s downturn.
The United States Department of Agriculture is holding its annual Agricultural Outlook Forum and forecast the country’s planted soybean area in 2023 at 87.5 million acres. That was in line with the year ago level, but slightly below trade expectations. With projected yields of 52 bushels per acre, the USDA anticipates a 4.5-billion-bushel soybean crop, which would be up by five per cent on the year.
Weekly export sales data is delayed until Friday, due to this past Monday’s President’s Day holiday.
CORN was also weaker, with some technical stops hit on the way down.
Weekly U.S. ethanol data saw production of the renewable fuel at 1.029 million barrels per day in the past week, marking the highest level in 10 weeks. Stocks were up by a quarter million barrels at 25.588 million barrels.
The USDA forecast 2023 U.S. corn seedings at 91 million acres. That was in line with trade expectations, but well above the 88.6 million seeded in 2022. Total U.S. corn production is forecast at 15.085 billion bushels.
WHEAT was mixed, with Chicago soft wheat moving above unchanged in the final minutes of trade while the hard red wheats remained pointed lower. Beneficial moisture coming to parts of the U.S. winter wheat growing areas contributed to some selling pressure.
The USDA Ag Outlook Forum pegged U.S. wheat area at 49.5 million acres, with total production at 1.887 billion bushels.
Cheaper Russian wheat continues to undercut other countries in global tenders, weighing on prices.
However, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine does remain a supportive feature in the background with traders uncertain over grain movement from the region going forward.
