By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, April 17 – The ICE Futures Canada canola market finished stronger on Friday, correcting after yesterday’s steep losses and enjoying support from the weaker Canadian currency.
The weakness of the Canadian dollar made canola, relative to its US counterpart, more attractive to international buyers.
Profit-taking was also a feature amid ideas that yesterday’s losses were overdone.
Chicago soybeans and soymeal were both slightly stronger which contributed to canola’s gains.
However, Malaysian palm oil, European rapeseed futures and soyoil were all weaker which limited the gains.
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Large global supplies of soybeans were also bearish along with the advancing South American harvest.
Investors were reluctant to sell ahead of the Statistics Canada planting intentions report which is due out next week.
However, at least one trader said he doubted anyone knew what the report would say.
“I don’t think anybody has any idea what to expect on Thursday so I doubt that there’s a lot of money being positioned on that report, it’s a bit of a dart throw,” said the trader.
Around 28,545 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when around 37,644 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 19,194 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were all untraded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
CORN posted gains of two to three cents per bushel on investor short-covering as well as planting delays in certain portions of the US.
Rains in the Mississippi Delta continue to hamper fieldwork and raise expectations those acres will be swapped out in favour of soybeans, said analysts.
Farmers in the US Midwest are preparing seed beds for planting which has resulted in buyers having to offer slightly higher bids than usual.
SOYBEANS ended one to two cents higher on surprising demand for domestic supplies while short-covering also drove up prices.
Soymeal is very competitive with dried distiller grain prices right now which is helping to support the cash market, an analyst said.
Still, large global supplies and the ongoing harvest in South America limited the upside.
SOYOIL futures in Chicago closed lower on the day.
SOYMEAL futures ended slightly higher with spreading against soyoil a feature.
WHEAT futures in Chicago ended relatively unchanged as investors squared positions before the weekend.
Concerns about dryness limiting this year’s hard-red winter wheat crop in the US seem to have faded away.
Rain has improved soil moisture conditions in Australia and helped early planting efforts there get off to a good start, which was bearish for prices.
– As of early April, agricultural, harvesting and processing organizations of the Russian Federation had 22.7 million tons of grain, up 17.3 percent from the same time last year.
– According to a report, Poland’s total grain production for the marketing year of 2015/16 is forecast to decline by about 7 percent to 29.4 million metric tons (MMT).
– Grain stocks in Ukraine in early April were 16.2 million tons
– Grain stocks in agricultural enterprises of Ukraine (except small) and companies engaged in its storage and processing, to April 1, 2015 amounted to 16.2 million tonnes.
