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ICE Canola Futures Firm On Outside Oilseeds

| 3 min read

By Dwayne Klassen

By Dwayne Klassen, Resource News International

April 17, 2009

Winnipeg – Canola contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform were trading at mostly higher price levels as of 9:57 EDT. Strength in the outside oilseeds markets and weakness in the Canadian dollar were seen as supportive price influences, market watchers said.

Some of the advances seen in canola overnight reflected the gains posted in the e-CBOT soybean complex as well as in Malaysian palm oil values. Firmness in Matif rapeseed futures also helped to push canola upwards.

In addition, production estimates for Argentina continue to decline shrink with production there now projected at only 37 million tonnes, which indicate reduced exportable supplies.

Some of the small advances posted in canola came in anticipation of the higher calls for CBOT soybean and soyoil values with the start of the North American trading day, market watchers said.

Small gains in global crude oil values early Friday and a firmer start to the North American equity sector were seen as friendly price influences.

Steady domestic processor demand amid very profitable crush margins were seen as friendly for canola. Relatively slow farmer selling amid spring road restrictions were seen as an underpinning price influence. However, the upside in that was limited by the fact that prices in western Canada were nearing the C$10.00 a bushel level, which was seen as a trigger price for producers, brokers said.

Profit-taking ahead of the weekend and overhead technical resistance were also expected to cap the upside price potential in canola.

A lot of the volume in canola was expected to consist of the rolling of spreads from the May future into the July contract. Traders noted that commodity funds were steady participants during Thursday’s session and were again likely to be players in the market again on Friday.

As of 9:57 am EDT, there were 5,495 canola contracts traded.

At 9:57 am EDT, 2 western barley contracts had traded with prices sharply lower. The realigning of spreads by commercials was a feature of the activity.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 9:57 am EDT: 

                            Prices            Change
Canola       May  $443.00      up  1.60
                    Jul    $445.50      up  0.80
                     Nov  $447.20     dn  0.80

W.Barley     Jul   $131.50      dn  10.50
                      Oct  $145.00     dn    6.00