ICE Canola Futures Firm On Outside Oilseed Gains

Helping to underpin canola were concerns about wet and cool weather conditions delaying the harvest of remaining canola fields, brokers said.

Small gains were posted overnight in European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil futures. The e-CBOT soybean complex was steady to narrowly mixed.

Some support in canola was also seen coming from a drop off in the level of deliveries by producers into the cash pipeline. Exporter pricing of Japanese purchases of Canadian canola were also helping to provide a bit of firmness for the commodity, brokers said.

Also contributing some support to canola were the advances seen in global crude oil futures.

The upside in canola was being limited by the large crop prospects in Canada and bearish technical signals, traders said.

The steady to narrowly mixed calls for CBOT soybean and soyoil futures were also casting some doubt about pushing canola futures upwards by speculative accounts, brokers said.

The Canadian dollar had been a bit weaker in early Wednesday morning activity, but has since pushed back to flat levels and was looking to strengthen further, brokers noted. Strength in the Canadian dollar was seen causing exporters to back away from the market.

Farmer advisory services were also pointing out to producers that any rallies in canola were being seen as a selling opportunity, brokers said.

As of 9:47 am EDT, there were 2,787 canola contracts traded.

As of 9:47 am EDT, no western barley contracts had been traded. Some support was expected to surface in barley as the session progresses, brokers said. They noted that end-users have been light buyers, trying to cover some of their winter and early spring needs.