By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service
Winnipeg, Jan. 14 – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were narrowly mixed on Thursday, with a firmer tone in the front months and losses in the more deferred positions as the spreads narrowed in slightly.
Advances in CBOT soyoil futures provided some spillover support for canola, according to participants. The ongoing weakness in the Canadian dollar was also underpinning the futures.
The currency dropped below 70 US cents on Wednesday, and was testing fresh 13-year lows on Thursday. The softening currency kept both exporters and domestic crushers showing solid demand.
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However, increased farmer selling on the other side did serve to keep prices rangebound overall.
About 28,503 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 14,183 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 18,914 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were steady to up two cents per bushel in most months on Thursday, as solid weekly export demand and speculative short-covering provided support.
Soybeans started the day on the defensive, as improving South American crop conditions and relatively large US supplies weighed on prices.
However, after the initial selling pressure subsided, soybeans managed to see a continuation of the short-covering bounce that has supported prices the past three days.
Solid weekly export sales of just over 1.1 million tonnes – contributed to the gains in soybeans, with strength in crude oil also lending some support.
SOYOIL settled higher on Thursday, with adjustments to the soyoil/soymeal spreads behind some of the buying interest.
SOYMEAL futures were lower on Thursday.
CORN futures in Chicago settled within a half cent of unchanged on Thursday, as the market reacted to the conflicting influences from soybeans and wheat.
Weekly US corn exports, at 669,000 tonnes, came in above trade guesses which lent some support to the market. The USDA also reported a separate sale of 102,100 tonnes of corn to Mexico.
Advances in crude oil helped underpin corn as well, given the grain’s connection to ethanol production.
However, losses in wheat and rising South American production prospects did temper the gains keeping corn narrowly range-bound overall.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were down by four to nine cents per bushel on Thursday, as the strong US dollar and ample world supplies continued to limit the competitiveness of US wheat on the global market.
Weekly US wheat export sales were in line with trade guesses but still soft overall. Generally favourable conditions for winter wheat crops in both the US and the Black Sea region also weighed on prices.
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