By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Dec. 8 (CNS Canada) – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were down sharply at midday Thursday, as losses in the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex weighed on values.
The sharp declines in soyoil that spilled into canola were tied to news that US president-elect Donald Trump had appointed Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as the next head of the country’s Environmental Protection Agency, according to a broker. Pruitt is a noted climate change skeptic who has fought against the agency in the past. Given his pro-oil stance, there are ideas that the EPA’s soyoil-supporting biofuel policies may be on the chopping block.
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Forecasts calling for moisture in some of the dry soybean growing regions of Argentina added to the softer tone in the oilseed markets, according to traders. A sharp rise in the US dollar index was also bearish for soybeans.
While crush margins were eroding slightly on Thursday, they still remain at some of their best levels of the past year which provided some underlying support. A lack of significant farmer selling was also supportive.
About 19,000 canola contracts had traded as of 10:54 CST.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged.
