North American grain/oilseed review: Canola drops with soyoil Monday
By Phil Franz-Warkentin
Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market was weaker on Monday, settling just above nearby chart support as losses in outside markets weighed on values.
The March contract fell below its 100-day moving average and settled just above the 20-day average, with speculative selling a feature. Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil futures were all lower on the day.
However, canola remains relatively cheap compared to other oilseeds and the supportive underlying fundamentals helped temper the declines.
There were an estimated 69,425 contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 71,714 contracts traded. Spreading accounted for 48,924 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were pressured by expectations for large South American crops on Monday, although activity was choppy and rangebound as traders squared positions ahead of the holidays.
The National Oilseed Processors Association reported that 193.2 million bushels of soybeans were crushed in the United States in November. That was a new record for the month, but at the low end of pre-report expectations and down three per cent from October. Soyoil stocks at 1.084 billion pounds were up by 10 million from October, but below trade guesses
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly soybean export inspections of 1.68 million tonnes, which was at the low end of trade guesses.
CORN futures were underpinned by solid export demand on Monday. Speculative year-end positioning was also supportive.
Weekly U.S. corn export inspections hit 1.13 million tonnes, at the higher end of pre-report trade guesses.
WHEAT was mixed, with losses in Chicago soft wheat and gains in the Minneapolis and Kansas City hard red wheat contracts.
Weekly U.S. wheat exports were in line with expectations at just under 300,000 tonnes.
Saudi Arabia bought 804,000 tonnes of wheat in a tender announced Monday, although none of the purchase was thought to be from North America.