ICE Canada Review: Firm Cdn dlr undermines canola

Few market players were willing to establish positions amid the thin trading conditions. Although canola was open for trade throughout the night it was only early Monday morning around 09:10 CDT that the first trade was registered.

The strong Canadian currency prompted some light commercial selling, with it only taking a few of those orders to push prices down in the absence of willing buyers, traders said.

Losses overnight in Malaysian palm oil futures were considered an undermining price influence. Sentiment that soybean and soyoil values at the CBOT would open on the defensive Tuesday morning also prompted some light selling of canola.

The losses in canola were tempered by the pricing of old export business to Japan by commercial accounts. Some scale down demand from domestic crushers also slowed the price declines, brokers said.

Concerns about the extremely wet conditions across western Canada also provided a firm floor for canola futures. The wet weather was believed to have caused some major seeding delays and may have flooded out canola fields in parts of Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba.

Snow in Alberta, meanwhile, was believed to have damaged already emerged canola crops.

Spreading was a feature of the activity and helped to augment the volume total.

There were an estimated 978 canola contracts traded Monday, down significantly from 15,357 during the previous session. Of the contracts traded, 482 were spread related.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged Monday.

No barley contracts changed hands during the session. On Friday, no barley contracts were traded.