ICE Canola Strengthens On Weather Uncertainty

Harvest operations across western Canada continue to be delayed by wet weather in many areas, and the risk of frost is starting to become more of a concern moving into September, according to traders.

Calls for a firmer start in the CBOT soy complex, along with overnight advances in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures, were also providing some spill-over support to canola.

Technical resistance was expected to limit the upside in canola, according to traders. Sharp gains in the Canadian dollar relative to its US counterpart were also weighing on canola, as a firmer currency makes canola less attractive to end users.

North American markets will be closed Monday for Labour Day and the market could see some caution ahead of the long weekend as traders will be reluctant to push prices too far one way or the other.

Statistics Canada will release its latest stocks report on September 8, and canola could see some positioning ahead of the data. The USDA will also release supply/demand data next week Friday.

About 920 canola contracts had traded as of 8:49 CDT.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged Friday morning.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 8:49 CDT: