ICE canola dropping lower Tuesday, but still rangebound

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market was weaker at midday Tuesday, as it continued bounce around within a sideways trading range.

Canola “has been stalled in a range for some time now,” said a trader.

Losses in Chicago soyoil accounted for some spillover weakness in canola, but Malaysian palm oil was firm overnight and European rapeseed mixed.

“Canola has some source of selling holding it back,” said the trader, pointing to uncertainty over Chinese tariffs or chart-based speculative positioning as possible reasons for the weakness.

However, he added that demand underneath the market was solid, while most industry participants expect actual production was well below the 19 million tonnes currently forecast by Statistics Canada.

An estimated 18,100 canola contracts traded as of 10:48 CST.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne at 10:48 CST:

Canola            Jan   634.00    dn  14.20

Mar   647.40    dn  14.20

May   657.70    dn  13.20

Jul   661.70    dn  12.90