By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, July 26 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures canola contracts were stronger on Thursday, as speculative short-covering underpinned the futures.
An overnight rally in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans was also supportive, although soybeans ended the day near unchanged.
Weather concerns in parts of Western Canada contributed to the gains, despite the fact that conditions appear relatively favourable overall.
Saskatchewan’s canola was rated 70 per cent good-to-excellent in the latest weekly crop report released during the trading session. That’s up from 68 per cent in the top two categories two weeks ago, and well above the 52 per cent good-to-excellent rating at this time a year ago.
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The GrainWorld crop tour of Western Canada conducted by FarmLink Marketing Solutions this week pegged average canola yields at 41.9 bushels per acre. That compares with 41.0 bushels per acre last year and the five-year average of 39.5 bushels per acre.
About 8,812 canola contracts traded, which compares with Wednesday when 9,537 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 3,102 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended narrowly mixed on Thursday, finishing well off of their overnight highs.
Reports that the European Union had agreed to buy more soybeans from the United States triggered an overnight rally, with the November contract jumping 20 cents higher. However, with no official agreement in place aside from a presidential tweet, soybeans retreated back to unchanged.
Weekly export sales of about half a million tonnes of old crop and nearly a million tonnes of new crop were solid, providing some support.
Weather conditions across the Midwest remain relatively favourable for crop development, tempering the upside.
CORN futures posted small gains, as the talk of improving trade relations with the EU provided support.
Weekly U.S. corn export sales came in at about 1.1 million tonnes of old and new crop business combined, which was in line with trade expectations.
The lack of any major Midwestern weather concerns kept a lid on the upside.
WHEAT futures were lower as traders took profits after Wednesday’s rally.
While production concerns in Europe and the Black Sea region remained supportive for wheat, the futures were due for a correction.
A spring wheat crop tour of the U.S. was showing yields better than a year ago in the Dakotas, but still behind the five-year average.
In Canada, a crop tour pegged average spring wheat yields at 54.4 bushels per acre, which would be up from both the year ago and the five-year average.
