By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
July 4, 2013
Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola contracts were posting small losses Thursday morning in very thin trade. Many participants kept to the sidelines with the US markets closed for Independence Day.
The lack of direction from the US soy market is expected to continue through Friday, as many traders will likely take a four-day weekend.
In the meantime, relatively favourable weather conditions for crop development across most of western Canada accounted for some of the weakness in canola, according to participants.
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Losses in other outside markets, including crude oil and European rapeseed futures, put some spillover pressure on canola as well.
On the other side, supportive technical signals helped limit the downside potential in canola, according to an analyst. Tight old crop supplies and uncertainty over new crop production were also underpinning the market.
While most of the canola crop is thought to be in good shape, up to 20% of fields are dealing with some kind of problem, such as excessive moisture.
Only 37 canola contracts had traded as of 8:44 CDT. The lack of liquidity has the potential to lead some volatility as the day progresses.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged Thursday morning.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:44 CDT:
