By Phil Franz-Warkentin and Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
November 4, 2014
Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola market settled lower on Tuesday, taking some direction from the weakness in CBOT soybeans and soyoil.
Chart based selling contributed to the declines, with Monday’s turn lower shifting the nearby technical bias back to the downside, according to participants. Fund traders were actively covering short positions over the previous week, but were looking less aggressive on the buy side on Tuesday.
Sharp losses in the outside crude oil market were also bearish for the grains and oilseeds in general, according to traders.
Read Also
Canadian Financial Close: Loonie stands pat
By Glen Hallick Glacier Farm Media | MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was unchanged on Friday as weakness in the…
On the other side, a lack of significant farmer selling did help limit the losses in canola. With the Canadian canola harvest done for the year, and cash flow needs met for the time being, producers were said to be looking content to sit and wait for better prices.
Good end user demand, with China reported to be buying more
Canadian canola, helped provide some underlying support for canola as well. The weaker Canadian dollar was another supportive price influence.
About 18,673 canola contracts were traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 20,897 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 9,748 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.
CORN futures in Chicago fell seven to nine cents per bushel lower Tuesday as the US harvest picked up the pace and weather forecasts called for favourable harvest weather.
The US Department of Agriculture estimated that roughly 65 percent of the US corn crop has now been harvested.
Informa Economics pegged corn output at 14.493 billion bushels on yields of 174.4 bushels an acre. That is expected to surpass last year’s total.
Strong demand continues for ethanol supplies. One major ethanol maker in the US announced its third-quarter profits had increased by 60 percent.
Soybean futures in Chicago dropped 16 to 20 cents per bushel Tuesday on follow-through selling and new projections by Informa Economics calling for record US production and yields.
Soybean output was projected to be 3.991 billion bushels, surpassing last year’s total, with yields of 47.9 bushels an area.
According to the USDA, about 83% of the US soybean crop had been harvested as of Sunday.
SOYOIL futures were lower on Tuesday, as losses in crude oil weighed on the vegetable oil market.
SOYMEAL futures ended lower.
WHEAT futures in Chicago ended seven to eight cents per bushel lower on lacklustre demand for US supplies amid fierce competition by other countries on the International scene.
Informa Economics projected all wheat production at 2.035 billion bushels. That is down from last year’s total of 2.135 billion bushels. Winter wheat is expected to come in at 1.378 billion bushels. That is less than the 1.543 billion bushels harvested last year.
– Crop experts in the Black Sea region say warm weather in November will be needed to help grain crops that were left vulnerable due to a lack of rain and early cold.
– Ukraine harvested 55.6 million tonnes of grain and pulses as of October 31, according to a report.
– Canadian wheat was offered at the lowest price in a recent tender by the Iraq State Grains Board, sources say. It was offered at $323.40 a tonne.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
