By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
February 23, 2015
Winnipeg – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts were mixed at Monday’s close, although the most active contracts all managed to settle with small advances as speculative buying interest and solid end user demand provided support.
Speculators were buying canola and selling in the soy complex, which was supportive for the Canadian futures. Commercial traders were on both sides of the market.
A weaker tone in the Canadian dollar contributed to the gains in canola. However, losses in CBOT soyoil served to cancel out any currency related strength and kept canola rangebound overall, according to participants.
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Adjustments to the March/May spread were a feature as participants were busy exiting the front month and rolling into the May contract ahead of first deliveries.
About 31,614 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 30,186 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 28,708 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were steady to down one cent at Monday’s close, after trading to both sides of unchanged in choppy activity.
Soybeans had initially shown some strength on the back of solid demand for soymeal, but the market turned lower as the day progressed.
Softer weekly export data contributed to the declines in beans, as global attention turns to the large South American crops currently being harvested.
However, news of a truckers strike in Brazil was somewhat supportive as the labour unrest may disrupt some movement from the country. Chart support also held at the lows, helping the most active May contract settle above the psychological US$10.00 per bushel mark.
SOYOIL futures were down on Monday, with losses in Malaysian palm oil behind some of the spillover selling pressure.
SOYMEAL futures finished mixed on Monday, with good demand for meal from exporters and the livestock sector providing some support.
CORN futures in Chicago were down by four to six cents per bushel on Monday, with strength in the US dollar internationally behind some of the weakness.
A lack of any real fresh news kept the overall bias pointed lower, according to participants, especially as US farmers are still thought to be sitting on large quantities of unpriced corn from last year.
However, solid weekly export sales and reports of fresh business to South Korea overnight did provide some support for corn.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were down by one to four cents, as the stronger US dollar made US supplies less attractive for international buyers. Kansas City wheat futures were also down on the day, but the Minneapolis spring wheat contracts managed to settle with gains of one to two cents per bushel.
The US missed out on yet another Egyptian tender, as US prices remain expensive internationally.
However, cold temperatures across parts of the Midwest were somewhat supportive, with the threat of winterkill providing some underlying support for wheat.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
