ICE Canola Down With Strong Canadian Dollar, Rapeseed Losses

Small amounts of follow-through liquidation by speculators on Monday’s lower close accounted for some of the selling, with light farmer hedges also a factor, according to a broker. He said the strong Canadian dollar was limiting commercial demand on the other side, with both domestic crushers and exporters only showing some scale-down interest.

Recent rainfall that helped conditions improve for the European rapeseed crop was leading to some profit-taking in that market which spilled into canola as well, said the trader.

However, with CBOT soybeans pointed higher, market participants expected canola could turn choppy and anticipated a move up before the end of the session.

Rains across the southern Canadian Prairies are limiting seeding progress, while some fields in the north were being reseeded due to frost damage, said a canola trader. "We’re still fighting to get the last bit of the crop in the ground," he said adding that the fields already planted were also struggling in some areas.

At 10:45 CDT, about 17,500 canola contracts had changed hands, with spreading a feature of the activity.

Western barley futures were untraded and unchanged at midsession.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:45 CDT: