| By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada |
| Feb. 2, 2012 |
| Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola futures were narrowly mixed Thursday morning, with declines in the front months and a firmer tone in the lightly traded new crop contracts.After moving higher on Wednesday, canola was due for a profit-taking correction, according to traders who noted that most outside financial and commodity markets were also backing away from recent advances Thursday morning. Malaysian palm oil, European rapeseed, and e-CBOT soybeans were all lower in overnight activity.
Improving crop conditions for soybeans in South America and looming harvest pressure from the continent also weighed on oilseed values, including canola, said traders. The strong Canadian dollar, which was still trading above parity with its US counterpart, also weighed on canola values as the strong currency cuts into crush margins. However, end-users still continue to show solid demand for canola and scale-down commercial pricing kept prices well supported, according to traders. A lack of significant farmer selling and mounting concerns over dryness in western Canada also provided some underlying support. About 850 canola contracts had traded as of 8:31 CST. Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged Thursday morning. Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:31 CST:
Price Change Canola Mar 522.70 dn 1.10 May 527.70 dn 1.70 Nov 510.00 unch Western Barley Mar 212.00 unch May 216.00 unch Milling Wheat Oct 266.20 unch Dec 270.70 unch Durum Oct 268.50 unch Dec 273.00 unch Barley Oct 180.50 unch Dec 184.00 unch |
