ICE Canola Climbs On Bullish USDA Report

The USDA revised its soybean ending stocks estimate lower, providing the catalyst for that market to move higher. Soyoil was posting especially large advances, which was supportive for canola, according to a Winnipeg-based commercial trader.

He said domestic crushers were some of the noted buyers in canola. Speculators were also coming forward on the buy side, with the move above psychological resistance of C$600 per metric ton in the March contract triggering some additional buy-stops.

Snow storms in Alberta and Saskatchewan were expected to slow farmer deliveries in the region, providing some further support to the canola market, according to the trader. However, he added that while farmers may not be delivering, they were still making sales as prices moved higher. The farmer selling limited the upside.

A firmer Canadian dollar also tempered the advances in canola, according to market participants. Improving crop conditions for soybeans in Argentina, as the forecasts were looking a little wetter for the dry country, also served to put some pressure on values.

At 10:42 CST, about 16,600 canola contracts had changed hands with spreading a minor feature of the activity.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged at midsession.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:42 CST: