By Ashley Robinson, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Jan. 3 (CNS Canada) – The ICE Futures canola contacts closed narrowly mixed, after having spent the trading session finding support from a strengthening soy complex and pressure from a stronger Canadian dollar.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean, oil and meal contracts were all stronger at market close. Traders shifted their attention throughout the day from United States’ equity markets to commodity markets, after equity markets took a beating due to low Apple Inc. sales pointing to a slowing global economy.
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While the canola market rallied yesterday, the longer technical bias is pointed to the downside. Traders are also still concerned about the softer demand for Canadian canola.
About 13,577 canola contracts traded, which compares with Wednesday when 7,790 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 6,162 of the contracts traded.
The forecast in Brazil is calling for rain in the next four to five days, while the extended forecast is dry. Estimates for Brazil’s soybean production have been lowered but the crop still isn’t expected to be below normal.
The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expected to make a decision tomorrow morning about whether it will delay the release of next week’s major reports due to the ongoing government shutdown. The USDA has said it will need one week to analyze the data for the crop report.
CBOT corn prices finished the day stronger, also finding support from dropping equity markets.
Brazil’s safrinha corn crop could be affected by the ongoing dryness in the country. The crop is planted after soybeans and is normally harvested in late January into February. It accounts for roughly two-thirds of Brazil’s total corn production.
Brazil increased its ethanol exports to 107.43 million litres in December, up by 42.25 million litres from the previous year. Corn exports in Brazil rose to 4.014 million tonnes last month, up by 20,000 tonnes.
Wheat futures in the U.S. finished the day in the green, also supported by the equity markets drop.
The global wheat market is currently quiet with only a few countries having tenders out. Ethiopia is looking for 40,000 tonnes of milling wheat, and Pakistan has a tender out to export 100,000 tonnes wheat.
It is expected exports will pick up soon for U.S. wheat as it is competitively priced. Russia is still on holiday until the middle of next week, which will keep them out of the global wheat trade until then.
