By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – Intercontinental Exchange canola futures closed lower on Friday, pulled down by significant losses in the Chicago soy complex and European rapeseed.
However, upticks in Malaysian palm oil tried to temper further declines. Modest increases in crude oil spilled over into the vegetable oils.
An analyst suggested the funds were likely attempting to buy out their positions. He added that canola was trying to remain rangebound.
The March canola contract finished above its 20-day and 100-day moving averages, as it approached its 50-day average.
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The Canadian Grain Commission reported for the week ended Dec. 29 that producer deliveries of canola slipped from the previous week to 187,900 tonnes. Canola exports were lower at 138,400 tonnes while domestic use nudged up to 203,100 tonnes.
The Canadian dollar stepped back Friday afternoon, with the loonie at 69.21 U.S. cents compared to Thursday’s close of 69.36.
There were 32,412 contracts traded on Friday, compared to 27,146 on Thursday. Spreading accounted for 16,110 contracts traded.
Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:
Price Change Canola Mar 624.00 dn 1.00 May 628.70 dn 3.80 Jul 631.10 dn 3.70 Nov 607.80 dn 3.60
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Friday due to lackluster export sales.
The United States Department of Agriculture issued its export sales report for the week ended Dec. 26, showing old crop soybeans at 484,700 tonnes. Not only was that a marketing-year low, but it’s also below trade guesses of 500,000 to 1.20 million tonnes. There were no new crop sales for soybeans or any other commodities this week.
Export sales of U.S. soymeal tallied 203,800 tonnes, meeting trade guesses of 150,000 to 350,000 tonnes. At 38,100 tonnes, soyoil exceeded market expectations of 5,000 to 30,000 tonnes.
The USDA is scheduled to issue its first supply and demand report for 2025 on Jan. 10.
The weather outlook for Argentina and southern Brazil called for continuing dryness for the next 10 days, but the 11 to 15 day forecast has rain.
The USDA attaché in Kuala Lumpur projected 2024/25 palm oil production in Malaysia at 19.20 million tonnes, down from the 19.71 million tonnes the previous year. However, ending stocks are expected to hold at 2.01 million tonnes.
CORN futures were lower on Friday also due to export sales.
U.S. corn registered export sales of 777,000 tonnes, slipping below trade forecasts of 800,000 to 1.40 million tonnes.
The USDA’s monthly crush report said 464.94 million bushels of corn were processed in November, up 1.7 per cent from the previous November.
WHEAT futures were weaker on Friday in sympathy with soybeans and corn.
The USDA said wheat export sales were 140,600 tonnes, coming in below trade projections.
Although the greenback was lower on Friday it was still above 108.700 points on the U.S. Dollar Index.
Taiwan issued a tender for 114,650 tonnes of U.S. milling wheat.
