ICE Canada Grain/Oilseed Rev: Large Crop/CBOT Take Canola Dn
| 2 min read
| By Dwayne Klassen, Resource News International |
| October 2, 2009 |
| Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform finished the session with significant declines with the advancing harvest and the declines in the CBOT soybean complex behind the price weakness, market watchers said. Some evening up of positions ahead of the weekend was a feature of the activity.
Adding to the price weakness was confirmation from Statistics Canada that canola output in Canada had grown from the August forecast and that output would still be larger by the time the government agency releases its December 3 update. Statistics Canada in a crop production survey released October 2, pegged Canada’s 2009/10 (Aug/Jul) canola output at 10.269 million metric tons. This was up from the August projection of 9.541 million tons and compares with the 2008/09 crop of 12.642 million. The estimate was at the low end of pre-report expectations, but most market participants had not expected the government agency to have included the full benefit of a warm September in the production projections. Instead, most feel the December 3 production estimate from StatsCan will show the full size of the crop. Market participants were still anticipating canola output in 2009/10 to topple the 11.0 million ton level, brokers said. Losses overnight in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures sparked some of the early selling seen in canola. The declines in canola were amplified by the sell-off seen in CBOT soybeans and soyoil. Chart-based speculative selling helped to weigh on canola futures with some pre-weekend hedge selling by elevator companies adding to the bearish price sentiment, brokers said. Underlying support in canola came from light exporter pricing of old business and from the buying back of previously sold positions. There were an estimated 11,067 canola contracts traded during Friday’s session, down from 15,242 during the previous session. Western barley futures were steady to higher with activity in the November and January contracts dominated mainly by commercials. Re-positioning of contracts was a feature of the activity, brokers said. The declines seen in CBOT corn and the advancing harvest in western Canada tempered the strength seen in barley, brokers said. An estimated 12 barley contracts changed hands during the session. On Thursday, 36 barley contracts were traded. |
