By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada Inc.

Winnipeg – July 6/12 – Canola futures on the ICE Canada trading platform finished Friday’s session on a mostly firmer footing after starting the day off on the defensive. Early losses in canola were associated with profit-taking while some of the upward price action came from commercial demand, said to be covering fresh export sales, market watchers said.

While confirmation on the Canadian export sales was not available, indications pointed to fresh business with China, brokers said. “Canola is cheap compared to soybeans at the moment, which may have sparked the sales,” an analyst said.

Steady domestic crusher demand and weakness in the Canadian dollar also contributed to some of the strength in the canola market, traders said.

Uncertainty surrounding weather issues in western Canada helped to prompt some support, with there being reports of crops dealing with excess moisture and hail damage from recent storm activity. However, there were also reports of conditions being extremely dry for crop development in other areas of the Canadian prairies.

The ongoing hot and dry weather conditions in the key growing regions of the US soybean and corn belt, also fueled some minor strength in canola, brokers said.

Early weakness in canola had been stimulated by the taking of profits and by the sell-off experienced in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed values. The losses posted by CBOT soybean and soyoil values Friday also weighed on canola.

There were an estimated 14,279 canola contracts traded Friday, down from the 16,736 contracts that changed hands during the previous session.

There were no barley or durum contracts traded during the session but values were increased by ICE Canada at the close. However, there was some commercial two-way trade evident in the December milling wheat future, resulting in 31 contracts exchanging hands during the session at weaker values.

Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.