By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
October 24, 2013
Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola contracts were holding onto small gains Thursday morning, as supportive technical signals and the continued weakness in the Canadian dollar helped underpin the market.
The Canadian currency lost nearly a cent relative to its US counterpart on Wednesday and remained pointed lower Thursday morning. The softer currency causes crush margins to rise and also makes canola more attractive to international buyers.
A lack of significant farmer selling provided further support, as producers are generally finished with this year’s harvest and are now storing their canola in hopes of seeing higher prices in the future.
However, the record large crop overhanging the market does remain a bearish influence. The advancing US soybean harvest, expectations for a large South American soybean crop, and slightly softer tone in CBOT soyoil also put some pressure on canola prices to start the day.
About 4,000 canola contracts had traded as of 8:51 CDT.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:51 CDT:
