By Phil Franz-Warkentin
Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The ICE Futures canola market was stronger on Friday, as spillover from gains in outside markets provided support.
Chicago soyoil, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were all higher on Friday, with speculative positioning ahead of the weekend a feature. Canadian markets will be closed Monday for Victoria Day.
The new crop November contract moved back above its 200-day moving average, which was supportive from a technical standpoint.
Concerns over seeding delays across the Prairies after recent rains helped underpin the futures as well despite ideas that the moisture will be good for production in the long run.
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Weekly Canadian canola exports of 322,800 tonnes were roughly double what moved the previous week, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. However, total canola exports through 41 weeks of the 2023/24 marketing year at 5.1 million tonnes were still running about 26 per cent behind the year-ago pace.
There were an estimated 41,842 contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 34,218 contracts traded. Spreading accounted for 25,870 of the contracts traded.
Soybeans up Friday, grains down
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade moved higher on Friday, underpinned by South American production concerns and planting delays in the United States.
Forecasts call for more rain across much of the U.S. soybean growing regions over the next week, which should slow seeding operations especially in the eastern Corn Belt.
Meanwhile, recent flooding in Brazil has cut into production prospects there, with up to a million tonnes of soybeans lost from the adverse weather.
Argentina’s soybean crop was pegged at 24 per cent good to excellent by the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, down three points from the previous week with the harvest nearing two thirds completion.
CORN was lower, seeing a continuation of the chart-based selling that’s weighed on prices for most of the week.
While U.S. corn seeding may also face some delays next week, there should be a window of opportunity for farmers to make progress over the weekend. Losses in wheat also spilled over to weigh on prices.
WHEAT was pressured by improving U.S. crop prospects. A Kansas crop tour placed average winter wheat yields in the state at 46.5 bushels per acre, which was the highest since 2021 and well above last year’s drought-stricken crop.
Ideas that wheat was looking technically overbought, after frost damage to Russia’s crop sparked a rally to 10-month highs earlier in the week, contributed to the declines.
