By Phil Franz-Warkentin
Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market continued to trend higher on Thursday, hitting its strongest levels in over a month.
The May canola contract held above the psychological C$600 per tonne level, which was supportive from a chart standpoint and likely encouraged some speculative short covering.
Spillover from gains in outside markets contributed to the firmer tone in canola, with Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil futures all higher on the day.
However, farmer selling at the highs likely came forward to keep a lid on the upside, according to participants.
Read Also
Canadian Financial Close: C$ steady Friday
Glacier FarmMedia — The Canadian dollar held steady on Friday as investors squared positions ahead of the weekend. The Canadian…
Statistics Canada releases planted acreage estimates on Monday, March 11, with average trade guesses expecting planted area intentions come in below the 22.1 million acres seeded in in 2023.
There were an estimated 44,816 contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 35,323 contracts traded. Spreading accounted for 24,474 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were stronger on Thursday, underpinned by good export demand.
Weekly United States soybean export sales of about 680,000 tonnes of old and new crop business combined topped trade guesses. Soymeal and soyoil sales were also solid, with the 29,000 tonnes of soyoil sales the largest of the marketing year to date.
Positioning ahead of Friday’s monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture supply/demand report was a feature, with updated production estimates for Brazil and adjustments to U.S. ending stocks anticipated.
CORN was underpinned by short covering ahead of the report.
Weekly U.S. corn export sales came in at the high end of trade estimates at about 1.1 million tonnes.
However, relatively favourable crop conditions in South America put some pressure on values.
WHEAT was mixed, with losses in Chicago soft wheat and gains in the Minneapolis and Kansas City hard wheat futures. Reports of rising Russian prices lent some support to prices.
Weekly U.S. wheat export sales were in line with expectations, with 271,000 tonnes of old crop business and an additional 64,000 tonnes of new crop sales. However, the USDA also announced cancellations of 130,000 tonnes of soft red winter wheat to China that had previously been announced.
While the Chinese cancellations weighed on the Chicago soft wheat futures, they also confirmed a rumour that had weighed on wheat prices yesterday and oversold price sentiment provided some support.
