By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Sep. 7 (CNS Canada) – ICE Futures canola contracts were lower on Friday, as speculative positioning weighed on values to end the week.
The market held steady within a rather narrow trading range over the past week between, trading between C$495 and C$499 per tonne in the most active November contract.
Seasonal harvest pressure and anecdotal reports of better-than-expected yields accounted for some of Friday’s weakness, according to participants. Losses in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil also weighed on values.
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However, CBOT soybeans settled higher, which provided some support. Concerns over possible frost damage in parts of Western Canada also helped underpin the futures, and traders were still trying to get a better handle on the impact on yields of recent cold weather.
About 12,000 canola contracts traded, which compares with Thursday when 13,176 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,718 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade held onto small gains on Friday, as traders squared positions ahead of a United States Department of Agriculture report out next week Wednesday, Sep. 12.
Pre-report trade estimates are generally predicting an increase in average soybean yields.
U.S. President Trump is reportedly considering adding additional tariffs on Chinese imports, which would likely result in reciprocal trade action.
Weekly U.S. soybean export sales of about 675,000 tonnes were in line with trade expectations.
CORN futures settled with small gains, as weekly U.S. corn export sales of about a million tonnes came in at the higher end of trade estimates.
Opinions are mixed as to whether U.S. corn production will be revised higher or lower in next week’s USDA report, with average guesses pointing to a slight decline in yields from the previous report.
WHEAT futures were all lower as export competition continued to weigh on prices.
Weekly U.S. wheat export sales were in line with expectations at about 380,000 tonnes. However, the U.S. continues to miss out on export opportunities due to cheaper supplies from Russia and other countries.
Persistent drought concerns in a number of wheat growing regions of the world remained supportive.
