North American grain/oilseed review: Canola corrects lower ahead of long weekend

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market was weaker on Thursday, retreating from earlier gains as traders booked profits and adjusted positions ahead of the Easter weekend. Markets will be closed April 18 for Good Friday.

While gains in Chicago soyoil provided spillover support, soybeans, European rapeseed and Malaysian palm oil were all down on the day.

Canola was likely due for a correction from a chart standpoint, after trending higher for most of the past month and nearing the upper edge of its year long trading range.

However, the underlying fundamentals remain supportive, as the market still needs to ration demand in the face of tightening supplies.

There were 58,040 contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 51,812 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 27,834 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Thursday, as optimism that China and the United States could be open to trade talks faded and traders squared positions ahead of the Easter weekend.

Weekly U.S. soybean export sales at about half a million tonnes of old crop business were in line with trade expectations, with new crop sales topping pre-report guesses at 181,600 tonnes.

However, exporters remain cautious given the ongoing trade uncertainty and increased availability of South American supplies.

The International Grains Council raised its call on global soybean production by a million tonnes from March, now at 428 million tonnes. That compares with 417 million tonnes in 2024/25.

CORN futures posting small losses.  Weekly U.S. corn export sales were at the higher end of expectations at 1.56 million tonnes.

The IGC raised its call on global corn production in 2025/26 to by five million tonnes, now at 1.274 billion tonnes.

WHEAT was mixed, with a softer tone in the hard red winter wheat market and gains in the other contracts.

The IGC cut its call for global wheat production by a million tonnes from March, now at 806 million tonnes. That would still be up by eight million tonnes on the year. Meanwhile, SovEcon raised its forecast for Russia’s wheat crop by 1.1 million tonnes, at 79.7 million tonnes.

Weekly U.S. wheat export sales included 76,200 tonnes of old crop business and 273,300 tonnes of new crop.