By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Oct. 25 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures canola contracts settled narrowly mixed on Thursday, seeing some consolidation after recent losses after trading to both sides of unchanged throughout the session.
Losses in Chicago soybeans and the advancing Canadian harvest did put some pressure on values.
The latest crop report out of Saskatchewan released earlier in the day showed farmers there were finally making good harvest progress, with only 10 per cent of the canola crop still unharvested as of Oct. 22. Good progress is also expected in Alberta’s next report, which is due on Friday.
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However, the yields and quality of the later harvested fields will likely be down from earlier estimates, which provided some underlying support.
End-user bargain hunting and weakness in the Canadian dollar also helped keep canola underpinned.
About 29,584 canola contracts traded, which compares with Wednesday when 24,340 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 17,892 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade fell to their weakest levels in a month on Thursday, as poor export demand and bearish technical signals weighed on prices.
Weekly United States soybean export sales were dismal, at only 212,700 tonnes, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, coming in below the already low trade estimates as a number of cancellations were reported.
Seasonal harvest pressure and the ongoing trade dispute with China contributed to the declines.
CORN futures were also pressured lower by poor export demand, with the 350,000 tonnes of weekly business well below trade estimates.
The International Grains Council released updated supply/demand estimates, keeping their world corn production number unchanged at 1.074 billion tonnes while raising the ending stocks forecast by five million tonnes, to 266 million.
WHEAT futures were also lower, following corn and soybeans.
Weekly U.S. wheat export sales of about 440,000 tonnes were in line with trade estimates.
The IGC raised its world wheat production number for this year to 729 million tonnes, which was a 12 million tonne increase from the last estimate. The ending stocks forecast was also raised by 12 million, to 262 million tonnes.
