By Terryn Shiells and Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canad
WINNIPEG, May 26 – The ICE Futures Canada canola market ended higher on Tuesday, supported by a sharp drop in the value of the Canadian dollar, as it made canola more attractive to crushers and exporters.
Worries about tight supplies and uncertainty surrounding how many Canadian canola acres will be planted this spring were also bullish, analysts said.
Concerns about adverse conditions harming western Canadian canola crops also underpinned values, as some areas are too dry, and others are too wet.
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Slow farmer selling, as they continue to focus on spring seeding and field work, also lifted prices.
However, weakness in the Chicago soybean market limited the advances, as did the large global oilseed supply situation.
Canola values were also testing resistance. The July contract climbed to 10 cents below the key C$470 per tonne level at one point during the trading session.
About 23,018 contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 4,784 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 10,298 of the trades.
Milling wheat, durum and barley futures were untraded. Though, the Exchange moved wheat prices lower after Tuesday’s close to reflect a sell-off in the US wheat markets.
CORN futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended three to five cents per bushel lower Tuesday, due to favourable weather in the US Midwest and spillover pressure from wheat.
Estimates ahead of the USDA’s weekly crop progress report peg US corn seeding as being 90 to 95% complete as of Sunday, May 24, which would be ahead of the average pace.
Speculators have bumped up their net short position in CBOT corn futures, according to a report.
SOYBEANS settled one to four cents per bushel lower Tuesday, pressured by a stronger US dollar and favourable growing conditions in the US Midwest.
Large supplies of soybeans around the world were bearish for values, a trader said.
The focus is growing on southern regions of the US where it is too late to plant corn and there are expectations soybeans may go there instead.
SOYOIL futures in Chicago ended 50 to 52 points higher on the day, supported by strength in outside vegetable oil markets.
SOYMEAL futures finished lower on decreased demand as a result of the bird flu virus in the US.
The Chicago wheat futures July contract dropped below the psychologically important five dollars a bushel level as a firming US dollar combined with weak export demand sent prices lower.
CBOT and Kansas wheat prices were 19 to 22 cents per bushel lower while Minneapolis spring wheat prices were 15 to 16 cents per bushel lower.
A favourable weather outlook for wheat-fields in Russia was also bearish for US wheat.
However, concerns that excess rain in the US Southern Plains could reduce the size and quality of the US hard red winter wheat crop were somewhat supportive.
• Russian wheat export prices rose last week following an increase in global economic benchmarks and concerns over dry and hot weather, analysts said.
• Ukraine has exported 31.2 million tonnes of grains in the 2014/15 marketing year (as of May 25), according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food in Ukraine.
• In Kazakhstan, the pace of planting spring wheat is 2.5 times slower than last year, according to projections from the government.
ICE Futures Canada settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
