ICE review: Canola down with U.S. soy

By Don Bousquet, Resource News International

Winnipeg, March 30 — Grain and oilseed futures at ICE Futures Canada closed Monday’s session lower with canola pressured down by the weakness in the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex, brokers said.

Canola saw a light trade with intermonth spreading by commercials and commodity funds accounting for much of the volume. Activity was subdued with many participants on the sidelines ahead of Tuesday morning’s U.S. Department of Agriculture grain stocks and prospective plantings report.

The total canola volume was estimated at 7,268 contracts, down from Friday’s 8,976 contracts, including an estimated 5,054 contracts involved in the spread activity.

Canola was lower in the overnight trade reflecting the weak tone in international vegetable oil prices and the fall in equity markets. Canola maintained its losses as the North American trading session got underway and the CBOT soy complex posted moderate declines. Canola ended the day modestly lower in the face of moderate declines in the US soy complex.

Canola was also pressured down by slowing demand with Chinese buyers backing away from the market as their own rapeseed harvest approaches.
Bearish technical signals and the weak tone in outside markets also weighed on values.

However, canola’s losses were smaller than the U.S. soy complex as steep declines in the Canadian dollar and slow farmer selling gave support. Cash bids continue to weaken and that has restrained farmer selling. Alberta farm gate canola bids have dropped to a range of C$5.00 over to $10.00 per tonne under futures prices. A month ago canola bids had been at a record $20.00 premium to futures, cash dealers noted.

Routine exporter and crusher scale down buying met mostly commercial selling with only light elevator company selling noted.

Western barley ended lower in heavy commercial trade with intermonth spreading accounting for much of the volume. The weak tone in corn and the absence of significant end user demand allowed the market to fall, brokers said.

The total barley volume was estimated at 1,096 contracts, up from 35 contracts on Friday, with an estimated 972 contracts involved in the spread trade.

Prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton:

          Price    Change
Canola
     May     413.70    dn 2.40
     Jul     418.50    dn 2.40
     Nov     424.40    dn 1.30
 
Western Barley
     May     144.00    dn 7.90
     Jul     151.00    dn 6.00