By Jade Markus and Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, December 21 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures Canada canola ended mixed, but mostly unchanged, on Wednesday.
Front contracts felt pressure from favourable South American growing conditions, which are likely to pressure the Chicago Board of Trade soybean market in coming sessions.
However, a weaker Canadian dollar kept losses in check, and propped up deferred contracts.
The loonie lost about a quarter of a cent by close on Wednesday, which is bullish for canola as it makes Canadian commodities more affordable for foreign buyers.
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About 39,897 canola contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 53,104 contracts changed hands.
Spreading accounted for about 30,684 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
WHEAT futures in Chicago finished three to four cents per bushel lower on Wednesday, weighed down by strength in the US dollar and some technical selling.
Officials in the northern US plains are still determining if any lasting damage was done by the extreme cold that set in last week.
Large world supplies weighed on the market. The US recently missed out on a potential sale to Egypt, who opted to buy 360,000 tonnes of supplies from Russia, Romania and Argentina.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade corrected two cents per bushel higher on Wednesday. The move broke a two-day losing skid where the commodity lost roughly 30 cents.
Technical buying also helped to prop up values, a trader said.
China purchased 132,000 tonnes of soybeans from the US, which was supportive.
SOYOIL futures ticked slightly lower on Wednesday.
SOYMEAL futures finished higher.
CORN futures in Chicago ended three cents weaker, weighed down by the stronger US dollar and chart-based trading.
Ideas are growing that the crop in Brazil could be larger than expected. AgRural’s estimate was 1.8 million tonnes larger than the USDA’s December forecast.
Ethanol production at plants in the US fell by 4,000 barrels a day, as of December 16, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
