By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, May 8 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was mixed at Monday’s close after trading to both sides of unchanged in choppy activity. The nearby July contract moved lower while the deferred months were all higher, with the narrowing old/new crop spread a feature.
Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil futures were all lower on the day, accounting for some spillover selling pressure in canola. Early strength in the Canadian dollar was also bearish, although the currency moved well off its highs.
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Spring seeding is underway in the western Prairies and will pick up in the east over the next few weeks as temperatures warm up.
Statistics Canada releases its stocks as of March 31 report on Tuesday, which will help provide a better picture of usage-to-date. The United States Department of Agriculture releases its latest supply/demand estimates on Friday, with positioning ahead of that report likely to encourage speculative profit-taking over the next few days.
About 26,769 canola contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 32,431 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 12,186 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Monday, retreating from overnight gains as losses in soyoil and soft weekly exports weighed on values.
Weekly United States soybean export inspections came in at just under 400,000 tonnes, which was down by about 23 per cent from the previous week. Large Brazilian supplies are reportedly displacing U.S. soybeans on the global export market.
U.S. farmers are expected to have made good seeding progress over the past week, with about a third of intended soybean acres likely in the ground already.
CORN held closer to unchanged, with a steady to firmer tone in the front months and losses in the more deferred contracts.
U.S. corn seeding is thought to be nearing the halfway mark, which would be well ahead of average.
Weekly US corn export inspections were solid at 963,000 tonnes but were still down by 37 per cent from the previous week.
WHEAT was mixed, with gains in the Minneapolis and Kansas City hard red contracts and losses in the Chicago soft wheat futures.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine remains a supportive influence, with no deal yet to extend the Black Sea grain corridor.
Forecasts calling for rains in the southern U.S. may help winter wheat fields there to some extent, although the moisture may be too little too late.
Meanwhile, spring wheat seeding to the north continues to run behind normal due to too much moisture.
Weekly U.S. wheat export inspections came in at only 209,000 tonnes, which was off by about 150,000 from the previous week.
