By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Sep. 27 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures canola contracts remained pointed higher on Thursday, as poor weather continued to delay harvest operations across the Canadian Prairies.
The cool and wet conditions across much of Western Canada have raised concerns over yield and quality losses as the harvest drags on. The weekly Saskatchewan crop report, released earlier Thursday, estimated that just over half of the canola crop was still waiting to be harvested in the province. That compares with the previous year, when canola was already 68 per cent harvested by this time.
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Weakness in the Canadian dollar contributed to the firmer tone in canola.
Chart-based buying was also supportive, as prices moved above key moving averages and brought in some speculative short-covering, according to a trader.
However, ideas that canola remains expensive compared to other oilseeds tempered the advances.
About 16,489 canola contracts traded, which compares with Wednesday when 16,698 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 7,348 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were stronger on Thursday, underpinned by solid export demand and supportive technical signals.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported weekly U.S. soybean export sales of 870,000 tonnes, which were in line with trade expectations.
While the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China continues to weigh on the market, other customers are coming forward to pick up U.S. soybeans at these cheaper price levels.
CORN futures were also higher on the back of export demand, with weekly U.S. corn export sales of 1.7 million tonnes well above average trade estimates.
Production issues in South American over the past year have shifted more global corn demand to the U.S., and traders expect to see a slightly tighter supply situation in the U.S. as a result when the USDA releases its quarterly stocks report on Friday.
WHEAT futures were mixed, with losses in the winter wheats and gains in Minneapolis spring wheat.
The International Grains Council raised their estimate for world wheat production this year to 717 million tonnes, which would be up by a million tonnes from an earlier estimate. The IGC raised its world wheat ending stocks forecast by 2 million tonnes, to 250 million tonnes.
U.S. quarterly wheat stocks are also generally expected to be up slightly on the year in tomorrow’s report.
Weekly U.S. wheat export sales of about 660,000 tonnes came in at the higher end of market guesses, providing some support.
