By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were higher Friday morning. Large gains in vegetable oil were the primary catalyst for the bump as values broke out of their recent range.
Advances in US soybeans were supportive and follow-through selling was also a feature.
Cold and wet weather in Alberta and Saskatchewan has brought the harvest to a halt with some analysts estimating as much as 20 percent of the crop is still on the ground.
Specs were likely covering short positions.
However, the Canadian dollar was stronger relative to its US counterpart, which made canola less attractive to foreign buyers.
Harvesting conditions are favourable in the US.
As prices climb a selling opportunity may be approaching.
About 12,000 canola contracts had traded as of 8:58 CDT.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were untraded.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:58 CDT:
