By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
Winnipeg, Oct. 23 (MarketsFarm) – ICE Futures canola contracts managed to settle with small gains on Wednesday after posting losses for most of the session.
While improving harvest progress and increased supplies in the commercial pipeline put some pressure on values, the size and quality of this year’s canola crop remains questionable which helped keep some weather premiums in the market.
Speculative positioning was a feature, with much of the activity linked to intermonth spreading.
Losses in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil and a steady tone in the Canadian dollar put some pressure on values, as crush margins backed away from their nearby highs.
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About 33,878 canola contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 46,609 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 26,296 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade held near unchanged on Wednesday, settling steady to lower in the most active months as investors weighed the latest trade talk.
Market participants were still waiting on confirmation that China would eliminating tariff rate quotas on imports of up to 10 million tonnes of soybeans from the United States.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported private export sales of 128,000 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations this morning.
CORN also held narrowly range-bound, seeing some consolidation in thin and choppy activity.
Weekly U.S. ethanol production came in at 996,000 barrels per day, which was up on the week but still below one million tonnes. Stocks of the renewable fuel tightened, despite the increased production, which was a sign of solid demand for the corn-based fuel.
WHEAT futures moved higher in all three markets, as U.S. origin supplies start to look more competitive on the global export market.
Production uncertainty in Australia and Argentina was also supportive, with both major wheat exporters dealing with dry conditions. Drought in Ukraine also raised questions over how much winter wheat will be seeded there.
