By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Jan. 10, 2013
Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola futures were holding onto small gains in the most active months Thursday morning, with positive economic news out of China accounting for some of the speculative buying interest in the agricultural markets. However, uncertainty ahead of Friday’s USDA supply/demand reports kept some caution in the canola market.
China’s trade surplus grew to US$31.6 billion in December, far surpassing market expectations and the US$19.6 billion surplus reported the previous month. The Chinese data was said to be pulling equity and commodity prices higher across the board.
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A firmer tone in CBOT soybeans helped underpin canola as well. Solid end user demand and concerns over tightening supplies in western Canada were also supportive for canola, according to participants.
On the other side, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were slightly softer overnight. Increased farmer selling, as good basis levels in western Canada are said to be encouraging more sales, also limited the advances in canola.
Strength in the Canadian dollar was also putting some pressure on canola values.
The USDA releases updated supply/demand tables on Friday, and traders expected to see choppy trade ahead of the report as participants square positions and await the official numbers.
About 2,700 canola contracts had traded as of 8:50 CST.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged Thursday morning.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:50 CST:
