By Terryn Shiells and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 21 – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were down sharply on Friday, amid renewed concerns about logistics problems in Western Canada, analysts said.
A number of factors are causing the renewed concerns, including a possible strike by CN Rail workers, the ongoing Vancouver truckers’ strike, thick ice in eastern Canadian waterways and the return of cold weather in Western Canada next week.
Spillover pressure from the weakness in outside oilseed markets, including the Chicago soy complex, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed was also bearish.
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Further downward pressure came from speculative selling, farmer hedging and the upswing in the value of the Canadian dollar.
About 27,263 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 40,576 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 11,084 of the trades.
Durum and barley futures were untraded and unchanged. Milling wheat futures were also untraded, though the Exchange moved prices lower after the close.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade settled sharply lower on Friday, posting losses of six to 28 cents per bushel, as the market ran out of any fresh bullish news and traders took profits to end the week.
The increasing likelihood that China will soon be cancelling previous US soybean purchases contributed to the declines, according to traders.
However, demand for US soybeans remains strong in the near term and the tightening supply situation did provide some support.
SOYOIL futures were down Friday, seeing some follow-through selling on Thursday’s sharp declines. Weakness in Malaysian palm oil put some pressure on values.
SOYMEAL futures were down on Friday amid ideas that the advances posted earlier in the week were overdone.
CORN futures in Chicago were narrowly mixed on Friday, finishing within a cent or two of unchanged, as the corn market remained stuck in a rather narrow range.
Good export demand, with the USDA reporting a 340,000 tonne sale to Egypt overnight, did provide some underlying support for corn.
On the other side, corn continues to run into resistance to the upside as farmer selling has picked up ahead of the spring.
WHEAT futures in the US settled 6 to 12 cents per bushel lower on Friday, as the speculative profit-taking that weighed on prices Thursday remained a feature.
Easing concerns over supply disruptions from the Black Sea region were also bearish for wheat.
Forecasts calling for some much needed precipitation in parts of the Midwest over the next two weeks weighed on prices. However, the moisture will likely bypass the dry Southern Plains.
• Domestic wheat prices in Russia have risen steadily over the past three weeks, as exporters in the country look for alternatives to Ukrainian wheat, said a report from SovEcon.
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is forecasting wheat plantings in the country at 9.990 million hectares, which compares with 10.626 million the previous year.
• China imported 578,794 tonnes of wheat in February, according to customs data from the country. The imports were up 160.1% from the same period the previous year.
