Lower dollar, higher soy boosts canola futures

WINNIPEG, (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures canola contracts were stronger on Friday, thanks to a lower Canadian dollar and spillover support from soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade.
The Canadian dollar was around 76 U.S. cents earlier in the week, but settled down to around 75.4 cents on Friday afternoon, supporting canola values.
Canola values found spillover strength from soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade, which have been trending higher for most of the week.
Rumours of an impending trade deal between the U.S. and China are also propping up soybean prices. Yesterday, a purchase of over 600,000 tonnes of soybeans was made by a Chinese importer, which is the largest sale in over a year.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) held on to gains on Friday, following a supportive World Agriculture Supply Demand Estimate (WASDE) report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The report estimated soybean output to be around 3.63 billion bushels, which is lower than the August estimate of 3.68 billion bushels.
Rumours of an impending trade deal between the U.S. and China also propped up soybean prices.
Yesterday, a purchase of over 600,000 tonnes of soybeans was made by a Chinese importer, which is the largest sale in over a year. Additionally, 204,000 tonnes of soybeans were purchased by China on Friday morning.
China announced it will exempt American soybean and pork from its latest round of tariffs, which will likely ease some tension between the two countries ahead of trade negotiations next month.

CORN futures were dragged down on Friday due to reports of large carryout stocks. In the WASDE released yesterday, the USDA added 85 million bushels to 2018-2019 ending stocks, due mostly to cuts in ethanol production.

Warm temperatures forecast for the Corn Belt may assist late-developing crops in the region.
Expected yields for the corn crop are around 168.2 bushels per acre, which is lower than the August estimate of 169.5 bushels per acre.
WHEAT futures were slightly lower on Friday, as U.S. yield estimates stayed the same from previous reports.
However, the WASDE did lower production estimates for Australian, Ukrainian and Russian wheat crops. Both Russia and Ukraine estimates were down by half a million metric tonnes each, to 28.7 million tonnes and 72.5 million tonnes respectively. Due to drought conditions, Australian wheat yields were cut by two million tonnes to 19 million tonnes.