By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, Sept. 6 (CNS) – Contracts on the ICE Futures canola platform were slightly lower in technical trading Thursday morning.

Canola stocks in Canada were pegged at 2.4 million tonnes, as of July 31, in a report released this morning by Statistics Canada. The number was close to traders’ expectations and had a neutral effect on the market.

Losses in Malaysian palm oil and harvest pressure added to the downside.

Reports of frost in various portions of the Prairies threw a slight weather premium into the market. They also created more concern about yields as the crop was already suffering from a dry summer and a serious heat-blast in the latter stages of August.

Recent weakness in the value of the Canadian dollar lent support to futures.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 9:05 CDT: