Canola futures fell steadily Friday, ending the week at $523.50 per tonne for the May 2012 contract, which was almost flat after an encouraging rally Thursday.
As typical of this year, traders said steady commercial demand and steady farmer deliveries worked in balance, and healthy overseas consumption and adequate stocks lay in balance.
The weakness in canola Friday reflected weak Chicago soybean prices, which many traders attributed to improving crop prospects in Brazil. Corn and wheat prices rose Friday on reports of Argentine conditions not improving as much as had been expected from recent rains.
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Commodities in general were lacklustre, as were equity markets. Oil prices fell, gold rose, the U.S. dollar fell and most commodities shifted around uneasily.
Anxiety over slackening Chinese industrial demand were tempered by feelings that the European debt crisis had become less extreme, leaving traders in all markets with a mixed outlook and an unclear path forward.
There is much excitement around the Winnipeg ICE market as the exchange readies the rollout of the new spring wheat, barley and durum futures contracts late Sunday night. They are all modelled on the successful canola contract, and traders hope they can be used to hedge prairie grain.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Mar 12 $519.90, down $6.10 (-1.16%)
Canola May 12 $523.50, down $5.80 (-1.10%)
Canola Jul 12 $522.90, down $6.00 (-1.13%)
Canola Nov 12 $499.10, down $5.90 (-1.17%)
Western Barley Mar 12 $212.00, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans Mar 12 $11.8700, down 10.00 cents (-0.84%)
Soybeans May 12 $11.9550, down 8.75 (-0.73%)
Soybeans Nov 12 $11.8375, down 10.50 (-0.88%)
Corn Mar 12 $6.1150, up 5.50 (+0.91%)
Corn Dec 12 $5.5175, down 5.25 (-0.94%)
Oats Mar 12 $2.9450, up 1.75 (+0.60%)
Oats Dec 12 $3.0825, up 3.50 (+1.15%)
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Mar 12 $7.9875, down 0.25 cents (-0.03%)
Spring Wheat May 12 $7.8150, down 2.75 (-0.35%)
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $7.5950, unchanged
The previous day’s best canola basis was $12 under the March contract, according to ICE Futures Canada in Winnipeg.
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York dropped $1.93 at $98.46 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was $0.9859 US, down from $0.9906 the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0143 Cdn.
