With a steadier exchange rate and little new news to trade on, Winnipeg canola futures drifted lower on Wednesday.
November canola settled at $372.70 per tonne, down 80 cents on volume of 7,121 contracts. It traded as low as $365.20 during the day.
January closed at $382.50, down $1 on a volume of 3,696 contracts.
At noon, one loonie was worth 94.17 cents US, down from 94.4 on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar was at $1.0619 Cdn, up from $1.0571 on Tuesday.
The expectation of killing frost later this week in Canada and the United States is already built into prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release new crop production estimates on Friday. It is expected to confirm a large U.S. soybean crop.
Reuters reported that analysts surveyed put the U.S. soybean crop at 85.74 million to 92.84 million tonnes for an average of 89.3 million.
The USDA in September forecast 88.32 million tonnes.
Brazilian forecaster Conab projects the South American country will produce a record 62.26 million to 63.27 million tonnes of soybeans this crop year compared with last season’s drought reduced harvest of 57.09 million tonnes.
The price spread between corn and soybeans makes the oilseed more attractive to Brazilian growers, causing them to shift acres from corn to soybeans.
