By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Oct. 25 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was mostly lower at Tuesday’s close, with chart-based positioning a feature as values backed away from the top end of their sideways range.
Only the nearby November contract held onto small gains, with intermonth spreading behind some of the activity as participants exit the front month ahead of its expiry.
Losses in European rapeseed futures and strength in the Canadian dollar both put pressure on the canola market.
However, gains in the Chicago soy complex provided spillover support. Wide crush margins and a lack of significant farmer selling, as seasonal harvest pressure subsides, also helped temper the declines.
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About 32,093 canola contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 38,516 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 24,958 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were underpinned by ‘Turnaround Tuesday’ price action seeing a recovery from Monday’s declines.
Solid export demand contributed to the gains, although there were no fresh flash sales announced on Tuesday. While demand is reportedly strong, low water volumes along the Mississippi River continue to hamper movement from the country to export positions on the Gulf Coast.
The United States soybean harvest was 80 per cent complete as of Oct. 23, well ahead of the 67 per cent average for this time of year.
Conditions remain relatively favourable for good harvest progress over the next week, with the influx of farmer deliveries tempering the upside.
CORN was also due for a correction after Monday’s losses, although the advancing harvest kept prices in a narrow range.
The U.S. corn harvest was 61 per cent complete in the latest weekly report, up nine points from the average for this time of year.
WHEAT was lower, after trading to both sides of unchanged in choppy activity.
The U.S. winter wheat crop was 79 per cent planted as of this past Sunday, just one point ahead of the average for this time of year.
However, persistent dryness in the key Southern Plains growing regions was hurting germination. Emergence was pegged at 49 per cent, seven points off the average.
Uncertainty over Ukrainian grain exports and whether the Black Sea corridor will remain open kept some caution in the wheat market ahead of the deal expiring on November 19. The latest news out of the war-torn country points to a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in winter wheat acres.
