By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, March 17 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was lower at Friday’s close as an attempt at extending Thursday’s recovery higher failed to gain traction.
Losses in outside markets, including Chicago soyoil and European rapeseed futures, accounted for some spillover selling pressure in the Canadian oilseed.
However, while canola failed to hold onto intersession gains, the market was also well off its lows for the day. Solid export demand and wide crush margins kept end users in the market, with ideas values were looking oversold also providing some support.
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About 31,827 canola contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 41,669 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 20,188 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Friday, as losses in crude oil and other outside markets weighed on values.
Crude oil has lost nearly US$10 per barrel over the past week, with general global economic uncertainty in the banking sector also adding to the broad selling pressure in soybeans.
Meanwhile, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange lowered their estimate on the size of Argentina’s soybean crop to only 25 million tonnes. That would be down by four million from an earlier forecast and the smallest crop for the country in over two decades.
CORN held near unchanged, as the bearish influence of the losses in soybeans was countered by support from gains in wheat. Solid export demand helped keep the bias higher for corn to end the week.
After announcing large corn export sales to China nearly every day this week, the United States Department of Agriculture announced another 191,000 tonnes of business this morning.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange cut their forecast on Argentina’s corn crop by 1.5 million tonnes, now pegging it at 36 million tonnes which would be the smallest in seven years as drought conditions through the growing season decimated yields.
WHEAT posted solid gains in all three markets, as traders squared positions ahead of the weekend.
The agreement allowing Ukrainian grain to move through the Black Sea is set to expire this weekend. While it’s generally expected that the deal will be extended, it remains to be seen how long the extension will be.
Yesterday the International Grains Council released their first estimates for 2023/24 world wheat production, with their 787 million tonne forecast down slightly from the 801 million tonnes expected for the current marketing year.
