By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Nov. 22 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market posted losses for the fifth-straight session on Tuesday, as bearish technical signals kept speculators on the sell side of the market once again. Fund traders and other speculators were reportedly trading canola against the soy market and taking advantage of thinner volumes in the Canadian oilseed to move values around and book profits.
The losses in canola came despite gains in Chicago soyoil futures, with Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed also slightly firmer. However, the Canadian dollar was stronger, which weighed on canola.
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Crush margins remain historically wide, making canola very attractively priced from an end user’s perspective which provided some underlying support.
About 28,409 canola contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 42,784 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 21,166 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Tuesday, with positioning ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday behind some of the activity. Markets in the United States will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and only open for reduced hours on Friday.
A firmer tone in crude oil today was supportive for soyoil, but beans themselves failed to hold onto gains and trended lower.
Ample supplies and rising production estimates out of Brazil accounted for some of the weakness. Brazil’s next soybean crop is reported to be about 80 per cent seeded, with forecasters in the country raising their production and export estimates due to favourable crop weather.
However, news that Brazil was planning on upping its biodiesel blend requirements sometime in the new year were supportive for prices, as such a move would limit exportable supplies.
CORN was lower, although activity was thin and choppy.
The U.S. corn harvest was 96 per cent complete as of this past Sunday, which was in line with expectations and up from the 90 per cent average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, reports out of Ukraine place the corn harvest there at about 50 per cent complete.
Ongoing trucker protests in Brazil following their recent presidential election continue to slow movement of grain from the countryside to export positions at the coast.
WHEAT was lower, with the largest losses in Kansas City hard red winter wheat.
Quality ratings for the U.S. winter wheat crop were left unchanged at 32 per cent good to excellent in the latest weekly report, well off the 44 per cent reading at this point last year.
Emergence at 87 per cent was one point ahead of the five-year average.
Uncertainty over Ukrainian grain exports remained a feature in the background of the wheat market.
