WCE close: Canola lifted by soaring soyoil

(Resource News International) — Winnipeg Commodity Exchange grain and oilseed
futures closed Tuesday’s session mixed with canola posting moderate gains in the wake
of a steep rise in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil futures, brokers said.

Canola saw a moderate trade with intermonth spreading a minor component of the
total volume.

The total canola volume was estimated at 11,624 contracts, up from Monday’s
6,730 contracts, including an estimated 2,594 contracts that were involved in the spread
trade.

Canola posted moderate gains, prompted by the sharp advance in CBOT soyoil
futures and the move to record-high prices by both crude oil and international palm oil
markets, traders said.

Improved crush margins and friendly technical signals also gave some support.
However, traders did note that technically the market has not convincingly broken out of
its trading range of $455 to $430 in the January contract.

Capping the advance and keeping the gains in canola much smaller than the CBOT
soy complex was the very strong Canadian dollar and the resulting sluggish export pace,
analysts said.

Crushers were the best buyers, with routine exporter pricing also noted. Locals and
commission houses were also buyers on the day. Commodity funds were not significant
buyers and traders said that fund buying will not appear in significant amounts until the
January contract rises to the $445-$450 price level.

The selling was mainly elevator company offerings on a scale-up.

Western barley futures posted losses in light activity with intermonth spreading
accounting for much of the volume.

The firm Canadian dollar makes U.S. feed imports cheaper and that weighed on the
market, as did the lack of end-user demand. Underpinning values was the sharp rise in
CBOT corn futures, brokers said.

The total barley volume was estimated at 199 contracts, down from 256 contracts
on Monday with the spread volume estimated at 142 contracts.

Feed wheat was little changed and untraded amid a lack of any market interest.

WCE closing prices, Canadian dollars per tonne, Nov. 6, 2007

WCE spread trade prices, in Canadian dollars. “Volume” represents the number of
spreads.