ICE canola climbing higher at midday Friday

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts were stronger at midday Friday, as gains in outside markets provided support. However, activity was choppy amid ongoing uncertainty over United States trade policies.

The U.S. put a pause on some Canadian and Mexican import tariffs on Thursday, but the fickle nature of the U.S. strategy kept markets on edge.

“These markets are very hard to trade,” said a trader, noting that the constantly shifting tariff news over the past week made it difficult to get a sense of the market direction. He cautioned that while canola prices were climbing higher at midday, any offhand comments from the U.S. administration could easily see the price direction shift once again.

Malaysian palm oil and Chicago soyoil futures were both higher on the day, providing spillover support for canola. Weakness in the Canadian dollar also underpinned the market.

The rally in canola brought values back above some key chart levels, which contributed to the firmer tone.

An estimated 22,600 canola contracts traded as of 10:45 CST.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne at 10:45 CST:

Canola            May   647.10    up 12.50

Jul   656.20    up 12.00

Nov   641.50    up  8.20

Jan   648.90    up  8.20