By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada
April 8, 2013
WINNIPEG – Canola futures on the ICE Canada trading platform finished Monday’s session on a firmer footing with weather concerns on the Canadian prairies and the advances in the CBOT soybean complex generating much of the price strength, market watchers said.
Much of the weather concerns centered around the large amount of snow sitting on fields in western Canada and the cold temperatures that have followed and were likely to slow the spring melt and prevent farmers from starting seeding operations.
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The downswing in the value of the Canadian dollar contributed to the firmness in canola as did the reluctance of farmers in western Canada to sell canola into the cash pipeline, traders said.
Some light domestic crusher and exporter pricing of canola further lifted values.
Sentiment that the bird-flu outbreak in China was more contained than first anticipated, also offered the oilseed sector some support. There had been worries that Chinese demand for US soymeal would decline because of the outbreak.
The buying back of previously sold positions ahead of the USDA supply/demand reports on Wednesday also helped to provide some minor upward price momentum for canola, brokers said.
The upside in canola was capped by the taking of profits at the highs of the day. Fund selling was also evident and further restricted the price strength in canola, brokers said.
There were an estimated 13,612 canola contracts traded Monday, down from the 19,893 contracts that changed hands during the previous session. Of the contracts traded, 7,688 were spread related.
No milling wheat, durum or barley contracts were traded during the session. Durum values were lowered by ICE Canada at the close.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
