By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, Sep. 6 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures canola contracts were posting small losses at midday Thursday, although activity was relatively thin and choppy.

“We’re stalled out here just under 500 dollars,” said a Winnipeg based trader. He said yield reports were generally coming in a bit better than expected as the harvest moves along, putting some pressure on values.

Statistics Canada pegged canola ending stocks, as of July 31, 2018, at 2.4 million tonnes. While that was about a million tonnes above the previous year’s carryout, the stocks were still well within trade expectations and did little to move the canola market.

Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were posting small gains at midday, providing some underlying support for canola. Recent weakness in the Canadian dollar also remained supportive.

About 4,800 canola contracts traded as of 10:49 CDT.