ICE Canola Mostly Higher on Frost Ideas, Short-covering

Activity was described as choppy with some participants taking to the sidelines to await Friday’s crop production update from Statistics Canada.

Support in the nearby canola futures was linked to the reluctance of producers to deliver into the cash pipeline and from the pricing of old export business, traders said. Some short-covering ahead of the Statistics Canada crop production report was also evident.

Ongoing concerns about an early frost in western Canada also continued to provide a firm floor for values, brokers said. However, there were ideas that the production report on Friday would show the crop at the end of July was in better shape than anticipated, brokers said.

Weakness in the Canadian dollar early Wednesday morning was a minor underpinning price influence for canola.

Weakness in canola was initiated by the declines posted overnight in Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed. The lower opening in CBOT soybean and soyoil futures with the start of the North American day session helped to encourage some selling in canola, brokers said. However, when CBOT soyoil values began to turn higher the selling in canola began to subside.

There were an estimated 5,580 canola contracts traded at 10:37 CDT. Of the contracts traded, 54 were spread related.

There were 5 western barley futures traded as of 10:37 CDT. Light commercial demand in the absence of willing sellers resulted in the October contract being pushed upwards, brokers said.

Prices in Canadian dollars per metric ton at 10:37 am CDT: