By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, April 27 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) canola futures were lower on Thursday morning, getting pressure from other vegetable oils.
The Chicago soy complex and European rapeseed were down moderately, while Malaysian palm oil incurred steeper declines. Small upticks in global crude oil prices were trying to temper further losses in the veg oils.
Yesterday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) issued its prospective plantings report, which estimated canola acres for 2023/24 at 21.60 million, about 0.9 per cent more than last year. If StatCan’s projection were to hold, it would make for the fourth most canola acres seeded.
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As well, StatCan reported this morning that nearly 923,000 tonnes of canola were crushed in March. That’s almost 25 per cent more than what was crushed during the previous March.
The federal agency also reported 2.07 million tonnes of canola were delivered in March, for a 50 per cent jump compared to a year ago.
Although canola crush margins were still wide and quite supportive of values, they continued to slip further away from historic levels.
With tomorrow being first notice day for May futures, there has been little activity in the nearby May canola contract. Open interest in the contract slipped below 3,300.
The Canadian dollar was relatively steady on Thursday morning, with the loonie at 73.36 U.S. cents compared to Wednesday’s close of 73.39.
About 8,200 contracts had traded as of 8:37 CDT.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne at 8:37 CDT:
Price Change Canola May 745.00 dn 10.00 Jul 722.10 dn 12.80 Nov 695.60 dn 7.70 Jan 700.30 dn 8.70
