By Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 18 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market posted minor gains on Friday after a volatile session as traders positioned themselves before the weekend.
Chart-based trading was a feature throughout the day along with some speculative action near the close.
Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were both higher which helped to underpin the market.
Dryness in parts of Western Canada was also supportive.
However, the Canadian dollar was still near its highest point in five months relative to its US counterpart, which has generally made canola less attractive to out-of-country buyers.
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China’s decision to lessen the dockage that is allowable in canola imports has cast some doubt about future demand.
Crude oil was weaker while large global soybean stocks were bearish for the market.
Around 12,077 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when around 33,726 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 5,084 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were all untraded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade settled within a penny of unchanged on Friday, holding steady on the day as traders squared positions ahead of the weekend.
Informa Economics released updated acreage forecasts on Friday, pegging US soybean area in 2017 at 84.0 million acres. That would be down slightly from an earlier estimate, but still above the 82.5 million acres currently forecast by the USDA.
The advancing South American harvest and increasing competition on the export front remained bearish for soybeans.
SOYOIL futures held steady on Friday, seeing some consolidation to end the week after posting sizeable gains in recent sessions.
SOYMEAL futures were slightly lower on Friday.
CORN futures in Chicago were down by one to two cents per bushel on Friday, pressured by improving US weather forecasts and expectations for a large US crop.
Forecasts are calling for drier conditions across the southern US corn growing regions over the next few weeks, which should allow farmers to make good seeding progress.
Informa pegged US corn seedings at 89.5 million acres, which was up from an earlier estimate, but below the 90.0 million acres forecast by the USDA in February.
Gains in crude oil were supportive for corn, given the grain’s connection to ethanol production.
WHEAT futures in Chicago held near unchanged on Friday, settling with gains of less than one cent in most months. The bias was lower in Minneapolis and Kansas City wheat, with prices down by a cent or two.
Wheat has posted large losses over the past week, and traders were content to square positions ahead of the weekend on Friday.
Relatively favourable crop conditions across the US winter wheat belt, together with a lack of significant export demand, weighed on wheat and limited the advances.
– Algeria bought 150,000 tonnes of durum wheat, most likely from Canada, in its latest tender, according to reports.
– Canadian wheat stocks are forecast at only 3.7 million tonnes by the end of the upcoming 2016/17 crop year, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada estimates. If realized, that would be the tightest carryout in over sixty years.
