By Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 14 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market posted modest gains Monday, tracking changes in the Canadian currency and advances in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil.
The Canadian dollar was lower relative to its US counterpart, which made canola more attractive to foreign buyers.
Commercial demand was relatively steady while Chicago soybeans were steady.
However, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were both lower, which was bearish. Losses in crude oil also pressured financial markets and dragged on canola values.
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The C$470 dollar mark has been tagged by some as the new resistance level.
Spreads have been swinging out and there are concerns over new Chinese dockage allowances for canola imports.
Around 14,950 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when around 16,467 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 5,932 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 were narrowly mixed on Monday, with the May contract unchanged at the close.
Soybeans were said to be lacking any fresh supportive news after posting steady gains for the previous eight sessions.
The advancing Brazilian harvestE put some pressure on values, with the soybean harvest in that country thought to be over half done.
Losses in crude oil and the equity markets were also overhanging the grains and oilseeds.
SOYOIL settled higher on Monday, with spreading against soymeal behind some of the strength.
SOYMEAL futures were lower on Monday.
CORN futures in Chicago were up by one to five cents per bushel, with chart-based buying behind some of the strength.
Concerns that excess rainfall in the southern US grain belt would delay seeding operations, and possibly cut into intended acres, added to the firmer tone.
However, the losses in crude oil did put some pressure on corn.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were up by one to three cents per bushel on Monday, with the advances in corn providing some spill-over support.
Weather concerns in some winter wheat growing regions of the US, as the crops start to break dormancy, helped lend underlying support to the futures.
However, any gains were tempered by the continued lack of significant export demand for US wheat.
– European grain production in 2016 is forecast at 306.3 million tonnes by Brussels-based Coceral. The crop would be down by 2.6 million tonnes from the previous year.
– Ukrainian farmers have six per cent of their intended spring crops as of March 9, according to reports out of the country.
– Untimely rains in India have hurt crops across much of the northern part of the country, with wheat fields flattened in some cases.
