ICE Canada Review: Nearby Canola Down On Ample Supplies

Spreading by commercial accounts played a big role in canola’s volume total. Some evening up of positions ahead of Monday’s first acreage survey for the 2010 season from Statistics Canada was a feature of the activity.

Canola futures had found some good support throughout much of the session from a pick up in domestic crusher demand and from steady levels of exporter pricing of old Japanese business, brokers said. Some early strength in canola had also stemmed from talk that Chinese importers were picking up some supplies from Canada. However, export sources were unable to confirm any fresh business on the books.

Gains in CBOT soybean futures helped to generate some of the advances seen in canola with the upturn in CBOT soyoil also beneficial for prices, traders said.

Some of the support in the deferred contracts came from ongoing concerns about the dry conditions across much of the Canadian prairies.

The downturn in the nearby canola contracts also reflected the lack of follow through buying. A late day recovery in the value of the Canadian dollar was viewed as bearish as well, brokers said. Reports that producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were making good progress with spring fieldwork and had begun planting operations in a number of regions, helped to spark some late session selling interest, traders said.

Ideas that canola acreage in western Canada will easily topple previously set records, also was an undermining price influence.

There were an estimated 18,424 canola contracts traded Thursday, down from 18,822 during the previous session.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged Thursday.

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