Fund traders add to bearish bets in canola

MarketsFarm — Speculative fund traders added to their net short position in canola during the week ended May 30, putting on more bearish bets while also liquidating some previous longs, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

As of May 30, the net managed money short position in canola futures came in at 54,118 contracts (79,125 short, 25,007 long) — an increase of about 4,000 contracts from the previous week.

Open interest in the canola market came in at 262,372 contracts on May 30, which was up by 658 contracts from the previous week.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, fund traders were holding a small net long of about 2,200 contracts in soybeans, up by about 1,500 from the previous week. Meanwhile, the net short position in corn fell to 46,800, from 97,600 the previous week.

In wheat, the Chicago soft wheat market reported a net short position of about 127,000 contracts. Kansas City hard red winter wheat funds reduced their net long position by roughly 5,700, to 8,800. In Minneapolis spring wheat, managed money traders were holding a net short of around 7,700 contracts.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.