Winnipeg canola futures rose Wednesday with early support from soybeans and lack of farmer selling.
January climbed at one point as high as $408.70, but settled at $404.40 per tonne, up $1.90, on a volume of 10,310 contracts.
March rose $2.60 to close at $411 per tonne on a volume of 5,077 contracts.
Trade was heavier than in recent days because of intermonth spreading.
Strong export and domestic demand and worries about rain delaying the U.S. harvest drove Chicago soybeans higher until profit taking kicked in late in the session.
On the blackleg trade issue, Reuters News Service reported the Canadian government is working on a new blackleg test to perhaps identify the specific strain of the disease to build a case that much of the disease in Canada is not the virulent type that concerns China.
At a meeting in Saskatoon, Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Venture said canola exports to China were particularly strong early in the shipping season and a large percentage of the expected annual total to China might have moved before restrictions came into effect Nov. 15.
The Bank of Canada at noon said the Canadian dollar was worth 95.24 cents US, up from 94.41 cents the day before. The U.S. dollar was worth 1.05 Cdn. The U.S. buck dropped on word from James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, that the central bank might not raise interest rates until 2012.
Winnipeg January and March barley contracts were steady at $157.50 per tonne with no trade.
