ICE Canada Review: Canola Up Following Soy, But Hedges Weigh

Gains in the Chicago soy complex along with overnight advances in Malaysian palm oil, encouraged speculative fund buying in the canola market, which helped values move higher, according to traders.

Exporter and domestic crusher pricing was also a feature, although the end user buying was backing away at the session highs and was not as aggressive as it has been in recent days, said a broker.

Farmer hedge selling also came forward at the daily highs, tempering the upside in the market, according to traders.

A firmer tone in the Canadian dollar also weighed on values.

Sunny and hot weather conditions across most of western Canada put further pressure on prices, as the harvest starts up in many areas. However, temperatures are forecast to begin turning cooler into the next week and frost risks should start becoming a factor in the market.

About 16,783 contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when an estimated 16,354 contracts traded. Spreading was a feature of the activity, accounting for over 5,000 of the contracts traded.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged on Thursday.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.