By Dwayne Klassen, Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg – October 9/12 – Canola futures on the ICE Canada trading platform finished Tuesday’s session on a firmer footing with steady demand and the tight supply outlook for the commodity providing some of the support, market watchers said.

Some of the activity seen in canola consisted of spreading, with market participants beginning the process of rolling positions out of the nearby November future and into the January contracts. Some position evening ahead of USDA reports scheduled for release Thursday morning was also a feature of the trade in canola.

Early advances in canola were linked to the overnight gains experienced by Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures. Early strength in CBOT soybean and soyoil values also encouraged the upside seen in canola, brokers said.

Steady domestic crusher demand aided the rally seen in canola with the pricing of old export business further stimulating the advances.

Strength in canola also continued to stem from the tight ending stocks picture for the commodity given that production of the crop will fall well short of early expectations, traders said.

The absence of farmer deliveries into the cash pipeline contributed to the support in canola as did some chart-related buying.

The upside in canola was restricted by the taking of profits at the highs of the day as well as by the continued firmness of the Canadian dollar against other foreign currencies, brokers said.

The late day pull-back in CBOT soybean gains also erased some of the price strength displayed by canola.

There were an estimated 17,847 canola contracts traded Tuesday, down from the 18,885 contracts that changed hands during the previous session. Of the contracts traded, 11,934 were spread related.

There were no milling wheat contracts traded although values were increased by ICE Canada at the close. Durum values were also untraded, but values were lowered.

Barley contracts were untraded and unchanged.