A sharply lower Canadian dollar helped canola futures rise on Friday, putting a positive ending on an otherwise bad week for the oilseed’s price.
The lower loonie was expected to boost exports and domestic crusher demand. There were rumours of sales to Pakistan and Mexico.
There was talk early in the day about China lifting restrictions on Canadian canola, but there was no confirmation.
Trading in the May contact ended today.
The most active July canola contract rose $1.20 to $379.70 per tonne on 5,948 trades. The July contract lost $8.30 on the week.
The previous day’s best basis narrowed slightly to -$9.55 per tonne off the July contract in the par region, according to the Winnipeg ICE Futures daily report.
The 14-day Relative Strength Index for July canola fell to 34, according to BarChart.com. The rule of thumb is an RSI of 30 indicates an over sold market and 70 indicates over bought.
New crop November rose $1.70 to $384.60 per tonne on 4,675 trades.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 96.67 cents US, down from 98.53 cents at noon the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0344 Cdn.
The loonie fell as traders speculated that European austerity measures would reduce demand for commodities, including oil, Canada’s largest export.
Winnipeg barley contracts were again untraded. May closed out at $151.10 per tonne. July was steady at $145.50. December was steady at $150.
Chicago July soybeans fell 11 cents to $9.535 US per bushel, new crop November fell nine cents to $9.2625.
May oats fell 2.5 cents to $1.90 per bu. December oats fell 2.5 cents to $2.145 per bu.
In New York, crude oil for June delivery fell $2.79 to $71.61 per barrel.
The pace of canola crushing bounced back from the previous week’s reduction.
The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 109,334 tonnes of canola in the week ending May 12, up 28.3 percent from the previous week.
COPA members have crushed 3.43 million tones this year.
Analysts had expected Australian farmers would seed more canola this year but dry weather in Western Australia, which produced slightly more than half the crop last year, might foil those plans.
Rabobank forecast the canola crop would rise to slightly more than two million tonnes from 1.9 million last year. Eastern growing areas have improved moisture compared to last year but Western Australia is dry.
Western Australia planted 1.84 million acres of canola last year and produced 986,000 tonnes, the Australian Oilseeds Federation estimated in March.
This year, the area was expected to climb to 1.976 million acres that might not be attained if dry weather continues.
