By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, April 30 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was stronger on Thursday, hitting its highest levels in two weeks as strength in the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex and solid end-user demand provided support.
Chart-based buying added to the firmer tone in canola, as the nearby technical signals shifted higher and speculators covered short positions.
Large old crop supplies and relatively favourable Western Canadian weather conditions put some pressure on values. Spring harvest operations were underway in parts of the Prairies, while early seeding was also starting up in some areas.
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About 18,072 canola contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 16,455 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 11,624 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were stronger on Thursday, with good export demand behind some of the buying interest.
Weekly United States soybean export sales of just over a million tonnes came in at the higher end of market expectations, with China accounting for over half of the business. Soyoil sales were also strong, at 29,300 tonnes. Weekly soymeal sales came in at about 220,000 tonnes (old and new crop combined).
Advances in crude oil were another supportive influence for the grains and oilseeds in general.
However, large South American crops remained a bearish influence in the background.
CORN futures also benefitted from solid export demand on Thursday. Weekly U.S. corn export sales came in above trade guesses, at nearly 1.4 million tonnes.
The executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in the week, requiring slaughterhouses and meat packing plants stay open also remained supportive.
However, large world corn crops tempered the upside. The International Grains Council raised its world corn production estimate for 2020/21 by a million tonnes, to 1.158 billion tonnes. If realized, that would be up by about 39 million tonnes on the year.
WHEAT futures also strengthened with good export demand. Weekly U.S. wheat sales of 467,000 tonnes came in well above pre-report expectations.
However, improving moisture conditions in Europe and the Black Sea region put some pressure on values.
The IGC lowered its world wheat production estimate for 2020/21 to 764 million tonnes. That would be down by four million from an earlier estimate, but still up by two million on the year.
