By Terryn Shiells and Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Dec. 15 – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts ended fractionally firmer after a day of choppy activity on Monday.
The Canadian dollar fell below the 86 cents US mark on Monday, which was helping to lift the canola market. The weaker loonie makes the commodity more attractive to crushers and exporters.
Continued solid end-user demand for Canadian canola supplies and a lack of significant farmer selling were also bullish, analysts said.
Further spillover support came from the gains seen in Malaysian palm oil futures.
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However, a weaker tone in Chicago soybean and soyoil futures weighed on the market.
The large US supply situation, good conditions for South American soybeans and some profit taking on recent gains were also bearish for canola.
About 23,969 contracts changed hands on Monday, which compares with Friday when 30,912 contracts traded. Spreading accounted for 17,558 of the trades.
Durum and barley futures were untraded and unchanged. Milling wheat was also untraded, though the Exchange moved prices higher after Monday’s close.
SOYBEAN futures in Chicago ended seven to eight cents per bushel lower Monday due to falling demand and continued favourable forecasts for the crop in South America.
An expected increase in U.S. plantings next year was also bearish, according to an analyst.
Farmers in the US are still hanging onto a large amount of oilseeds right now, according to a report.
The losses were limited by a disappointing crush report from the National Oilseed Processors Association, which showed fewer soybeans were crushed last month than expected.
SOYOIL futures corrected lower on Monday, taking their direction from soybeans.
SOYMEAL futures were also lower on Monday.
CORN futures in Chicago ended slightly higher Monday as large funds added to their positions, according to a report. Prices were anywhere from unchanged to two cents US per bushel higher.
Slow farmer selling also boosted values, according to market watchers.
Values are currently above the psychologically-important C$4.00 a bushel level, but that could come tumbling down unless more fundamentals fall into place, analysts warned.
WHEAT futures in Chicago settled 11 to 13 cents per bushel higher on concerns over Russia’s export policy, which is very uncertain, said a trader. There is speculation Russia may cut back on foreign sales to retain supplies for domestic use. This could lead to more sales for the US.
Hedge funds were also responsible for boosting values, participants said.
Weather conditions for US wheat remain fairly good, with favourable amounts of precipitation for hard red winter wheat, said a market-watcher.
• Argentina has announced it will allow its farmers to sell one million tonnes of wheat in the 2014/15 season, according to a report.
• Algeria has begun buying wheat from Poland and Germany due to increased unhappiness over the quality of French wheat, traders said.
• The Saudi Arabian government has indicated that by 2016, it will no longer be buying wheat from domestic suppliers due to its large consumption of water resources, and instead will import all of its supplies.
ICE Futures Canada settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
