ICE Canada Review: Canola Up With Exporter, Spec Buying


By Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada

Feb. 7, 2012

Winnipeg - ICE Futures Canada canola contracts closed higher on Tuesday, boosted by solid export demand and bullish technical signals.

The fact that canola posted good gains, despite a relatively softer tone in CBOT soybeans, was seen as a sign of exporter demand, according to traders. However, market participants were unable to confirm if the end-user buying was tied to new business or if it was the pricing of previous sales.

A Canadian government/industry trade mission to China is currently underway, and news that a Chinese company had reached an agreement to import more Canadian canola meal was somewhat supportive for prices, according to participants.

Technical signals were also supportive for canola on Tuesday, as prices neared the upper edge of their recent trading range. However, the buying did back away near the highs as profit-taking was uncovered.

Increasing farmer hedges and the strong Canadian dollar also tempered the gains in canola.

About 28,574 canola contracts were traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when an estimated 24,929 contracts changed hands. Spreading was a feature, accounting for 18,828 of the contracts traded. Milling wheat futures were narrowly mixed in thin commercial trade, while durum was steady to lower. Barley futures were untraded and unchanged.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.

  Price Change
Canola
 Mar 532.50 up 2.90
 May 536.20 up 3.10
 Nov 517.10 up 1.60
 
Western Barley
 Mar 212.00 unch
 May 216.00 unch Milling Wheat
 Oct 265.00 up 1.00
 Dec 269.50 up 1.00 Durum
 Oct 269.00 dn 1.00
 Dec 273.50 dn 1.00 Barley
 Oct 180.00 unch
 Dec 184.00 unch