MarketsFarm — Speculative fund traders continued to add to their large short positions in canola futures during the last week of October, taking the net managed money short position over 100,000 contracts for the first time on record, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
As of Oct. 31, 2023, the net managed money short position in canola futures came in at 105,440 contracts (3,930 long, 109,370 short), an increase of about 12,000 contracts from the previous week and the largest net short position ever recorded for the commodity in the past five-and-a-half years of available data.
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Open interest in the canola market came in at 275,456 contracts, which was up by about 5,000 contracts from the previous week.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, fund traders added to their small net long position in soybeans, taking it to roughly 23,000 contracts.
Meanwhile, the net short position in corn decreased by nearly 50,000 at roughly 147,100 contracts.
In wheat, the Chicago soft wheat market reported a net short position of about 108,800 contracts, which was up by about 11,000 contracts from the previous week. The net short in Kansas City hard red winter wheat came in at roughly 33,300 contracts. In Minneapolis spring wheat, managed money traders were holding a net short of around 29,000 contracts.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
