ICE Canola Down On C$, Weak US Soy

Canola activity was moderate with intermonth spreading enhancing volumes. Evening up was noted ahead of the long weekend as ICE Canada will be closed Monday for the Labour Day holiday.

The total canola volume was estimated at 14,162 contracts, down from Thursday’s 27,096 contracts.

Canola was lower in the overnight session but firmed up approaching the North American trading session on strength in e-cbot soybean futures.
Ideas the market was still oversold contributed to the firming action. Canola was narrowly mixed as the North American trading session got underway with a lower CBOT soy complex market at the opening
weighing on values.
Canola eventually followed the US market down, ending moderately lower.

Canola was pressured down by the drop in CBOT soy complex futures and the very strong Canadian dollar, traders s said.
The advancing harvest, ideal weather and expectations for a larger canola crop also pressured prices lower .
The advancing harvest has prompted heavier country movement which also weighed on prices.

Underpinning the market was continued export talk, ideas that canola is oversold and due for technical correction and lingering concerns that the crop is still vulnerable to frost damage, said traders. Technically based support was noted at C$400 in the Nov contract.

Most weather forecasters continue to say the first chance of significant frost in western Canada is in the middle of next week in central and northern Alberta. However, some did note that the steep slide in Edmonton temperatures Thursday afternoon may be suggesting that it will come earlier in the week.

Exporter and crusher buying was noted with speculative short covering also evident. The selling came mainly from commercials with steady elevator company offerings noted and some speculative selling, thought to be fund shorting in Nov.

Western barley ended higher in light trade. The advancing barley harvest, ample competing feed supplies and the weakness in CBOT corn all pressured the barley market down for most of the day, said brokers. However, firmness in the cash market held values from dropping much more and some late feed lot pricing pulled the Nov contract higher at the close which spilled in to lift all contracts.

The total barley volume was estimated at 98 contracts, down from 197 contracts on Thursday.

Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton: