By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, May 11 (CNS Canada) – The ICE Futures Canada canola market ended lower on Friday, tracking losses in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans.
Fund action was extremely limited, resulting in a day of low-volume trade.
Statistics Canada released stocks numbers today that pegged canola stocks at a whopping 9.1 million tonnes as of March 31, which pressured the market.
There continues to be ideas that farmers will plant more canola than StatsCan’s official estimate.
However, interest in canola is strong these days from China as that country grapples with trade disputes between itself and the United States. China is already importing massive volumes of soybeans from South America.
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However, strength in the Canadian dollar was bearish for canola, as it made the commodity less attractive on the international market.
Gains in soyoil helped to limit the losses.
Around 9,407 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when around 9,447 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,814 of the contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Soybean futures suffered sharp losses on Friday, weighed down by technical selling.
Weakness in global markets also spilled over into the soybean futures, according to a report.
Concerns over the trade dispute between China and the U.S. undermined the market.
Corn futures finished slightly lower as traders squared positions ahead of the weekend.
On Monday, the USDA will release planting progress estimates for crops in the U.S. Many analysts believe the U.S. corn number will be close to the five-year average of 63 percent.
Many fields in the Mississippi Delta could use some rain.
Chicago wheat ended lower in speculative trade.
Prices were pressured by forecasts calling for rain this weekend in the U.S. Plains.
This morning, Statistics Canada pegged Canadian wheat stocks as of March 31 at 16.4 million tonnes. That’s down by about 600,000 tonnes from the same point last year.
