Market watchers said the dip in prices came from a correction from recent rally as well as traders evening positions.

Also, domestic crusher demand is lower than usual due to declining crush margins, a market participant said.

The canola market was heavily active, analysts said. Activity consisted primarily of investors covering short- positions as well as speculative buyers cashing out of the market.

A weaker Canadian dollar did provide some underlying support for canola. A low amount of producer selling as well as rain in Saskatchewan, a large producer of the Canadian canola crop, helped to underpin prices.

Analysts said there is a general nervousness in the market, as there are no hard numbers of what canola production will be, due to the large amount of unseeded acreage and unfavourable weather conditions in Canada’s grainbelt. There were an estimated 10,892 canola contracts traded at 10:30 am CDT. There was no western barley futures traded as of 10:30 am CDT.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:30 am CDT: