| By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada |
| Feb. 3, 2012 |
| Winnipeg – ICE Canada canola futures were stronger Friday morning, as solid end-user demand and gains in the outside oilseed markets provided support.Canadian canola stocks, as of December 31, 2011, were pegged at 9.294 million metric tons by Statistics Canada Friday morning. That’s down slightly from 9.434 million at the same point the previous year. With Canada starting the year with a much larger crop to begin with, the confirmation of solid end-user demand was seen as supportive. However, market participants said the tightening supplies were already priced into the futures, and felt Friday’s advances were possibly tied to some fresh business.
Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were both higher in overnight activity, while CBOT soybeans were also expected to start the North American session to the upside. The continued strength in the Canadian dollar, which remained above parity with its US counterpart Friday morning, did temper the upside in canola, according to traders. About 2,900 canola contracts had traded as of 8:48 CST. Milling wheat, durum, and barley futures were all untraded and unchanged Friday morning. Wheat and durum stocks as of December 31 were in line with the previous year’s levels, while barley stocks were below both the year-ago level and the five-year average. Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:48 CST: Price Change Canola Mar 527.20 up 4.50 May 531.60 up 4.20 Nov 513.50 up 1.50 Western Barley Mar 212.00 unch May 216.00 unch Milling Wheat Oct 264.50 unch Dec 269.00 unch Durum Oct 270.00 unch Dec 274.50 unch Barley Oct 180.50 unch Dec 184.00 unch
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