By Dave Sims and Jade Markus, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, February 4 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market suffered losses Thursday, pressured by the continued rise of the Canadian dollar.
The Canadian dollar was up relative to its US counterpart, which made canola less attractive to international buyers. The loonie jumped well over a cent yesterday and continued to strengthen today.
Malaysian palm oil futures and Chicago soybeans were also weaker, which weighed on canola.
Both nearby contracts broke and settled below major chart support levels.
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However, gains in Chicago soyoil limited the losses.
Commercial buying has been steady.
Dry weather is also said to be negatively impacting some soybean crops in Brazil and Argentina which was bullish for values.
Around 28,046 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when around 18,676 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for about 19,196 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were all untraded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mostly unchanged to two cents per bushel lower on Friday, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released export data as of January 28.
Net sales reductions of soybeans totalled 43,600 metric tonnes for 2015/2016, which is a marketing-year low, according to the USDA.
Sales were down noticeably from the previous week and from the prior four-week average, the USDA said.
However, a weaker US dollar limited some losses, according to market watchers.
SOYOIL prices settled higher on Thursday, tracking Malaysian palm oil.
SOYMEAL closed weaker on Thursday, tracking nearby grain and oilseed markets.
CORN futures closed about one to two cents per bushel weaker on Thursday, despite strong export sales.
Large global inventories of the commodity weighed on prices.
Spillover weakness from wheat was also a feature.
Net sales of 1,129,100 metric tonnes for 2015/2016 were up 38 per cent from the previous week and 56 per cent from the prior four-week average, the USDA said.
WHEAT closed six to seven cents per bushel lower on Thursday, pressured by record weak exports.
Wheat net sales of 66,200 metric tonnes were a marketing-year low, the USDA said.
Sales for delivery in marketing year 2015/2016 were down 78 per cent from the previous week and 74 per cent from the prior four-week average, according to the USDA.
– China and India are expected to have seeded more acres this year, according to analysts.
– Egypt’s agriculture minister has said they will allow 0.5 per cent ergot.
