WINNIPEG (Staff) – The head of XCAN Grain Pool Ltd. is confident his company will be exonerated by the investigation into what went wrong with the June canola contract on the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.
Chief executive officer Ken Matchett last week rejected suggestions that the company was guilty of “cornering or squeezing or manipulating” the canola market last year.
“XCAN was not doing any of that,” he told delegates attending the annual meeting of Manitoba Pool Elevators. XCAN is jointly owned by the three prairie pools.
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Emergency declared
The commodity exchange declared a market emergency and closed trading in the June canola contract ahead of schedule after months of wildly fluctuating prices.
The exchange is conducting an investigation into what happened and whether any trading rules were broken. The Canadian Grain Commission is reviewing how the WCE has handled the situation.
Full co-operation
Matchett told reporters XCAN has co-operated fully with the exchange and it’s in the company’s interests to solve any problems that have developed.
“XCAN needs an efficient and effective futures market for canola,” he said, to provide for risk management on the millions of tonnes of canola it buys and sells every year. “Any suggestion that it isn’t working properly gives me some concern.”
