Winnipeg canola futures fell Tuesday, beginning a new year with weakness in sympathy with falling Chicago soybean prices.
March canola futures settled at $585.80 per tonne – a drop of $3.50 – and November closed at $530.90 – a drop of $1.10.
The above-parity level of the Canadian dollar helped depress canola prices, which are expressed in the Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada contract in Canadian dollar terms, and a host of other factors added to the weakness.
Crushers continue to buy canola, but export business is slow. Argentina’s weather situation is considered to have improved slightly, something which softened soybean prices.
Some of Tuesday’s fall in canola was attributed to a “catch up” effect with American soybean markets, which fell Monday. The Winnipeg exchange was closed Monday.
March Winnipeg canola fell as low as $576 per tonne Tuesday before recovering much of the losses, ending the session almost exactly where it opened in the morning.
Chicago wheat slumped by 16 cents per bushel to $7.89 and corn fell by 12 cents to $6.08.
Canada’s TSX stock market was down 0.3 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.18 percent.
The Canadian dollar remained above parity, although it fell slightly.
Crude oil fell below the psychologically important $90 per barrel mark to $89.33, gold fell $41.9 to $1,381.
