By Phil Franz-Warkentin and Terryn Shiells, Commodity News Service Canada
April 6, 2015
Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were weaker at Monday’s close, ending near their lows for the session after bouncing around both sides of unchanged in early activity.
Gains in CBOT soyoil were somewhat supportive throughout the session, according to participants. Reports that China’s rapeseed crop might be smaller this year also helped underpin the futures.
However, soyoil finished well off its highs, and CBOT soybeans were down on the day. A trader added that canola “felt heavy” throughout the session.
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A stronger tone in the Canadian dollar was another bearish influence, said traders, as the rising currency cut into crush margins and also made canola less attractive to international buyers.
About 14,277 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Thursday when 17,301 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 8,854 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.
CBOT SOYBEAN futures ended five to eight cents US per bushel softer on Monday, undermined by profit taking on recent gains, analysts said.
Pressure from the advancing South American soybean harvest and expectations of a very large 2015/16 US crop were also bearish.
Some of the weakness was also linked to a pickup in farmer selling in the US, as they prepare for the upcoming planting season.
However, steady demand for the US crop helped to limit the losses. The USDA said 564,823 metric tons of soybeans were inspected for export during the week.
SOYOIL futures finished stronger Monday, taking some direction from the overnight advances seen in Malaysian palm oil futures, brokers said. Though, the market was well off its highs of the day, as profit taking came forward.
SOYMEAL futures were weaker, as spreading against soyoil weighed on prices.
CORN futures in Chicago finished steady to one and a half cents US per bushel lower Monday, taking some direction from the softer wheat and soybean markets.
The large corn supply situation in the US and a lack of fresh demand news were also weighing on prices, participants said.
However, ongoing concerns about rain delaying corn planting in the US Delta region were supportive, as it could reduce planted acreage of the crop.
WHEAT futures in the US closed lower, as profit taking came forward following last week’s large gains. Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City prices ended five to 10 cents US per bushel softer.
Further downward pressure came from forecasts calling for beneficial rainfall in US winter wheat growing regions, as recent conditions have been too dry, brokers noted.
However, worries that the precipitation will be too little, too late, limited the losses. Some support also came from the weaker US dollar.
• Grain exports out of Russia are expected to reach 25 million tonnes this year, based on a harvest of 100 million tonnes, the country’s Agriculture Minister said.
• Unfavourable rains in India are expected to result in yields losses up to 15 per cent, the USDA’s bureau in New Delhi says. They estimate 6.3 million hectares of wheat in the country were hit by the untimely rain.
• Buyers in Saudia Arabia made a recent purchase of 780,000 metric tons of hard red winter wheat, according to reports.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
