By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
Winnipeg, June 28 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was stronger on Friday, as a rally in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans provided support.
Updated acreage estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture came in well below expectations for soybeans, pegging this year’s U.S. crop at only 80 million acres. The resulting strength in soybeans pulled canola up as well.
Ongoing concerns over poor moisture conditions across parts of Western Canada, despite recent rains in some areas, added to the firmer tone.
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The canola market will be closed Monday for Canada Day, while U.S. markets will trade their usual hours. Positioning ahead of the Canadian long weekend was another feature in the market.
About 16,133 canola contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 15,296 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 5,544 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were up on Friday, as updated acreage estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture provided support.
The USDA pegged 2019 U.S. soybean area at 80.0 million acres, which was a drop of 4.6 million from the March intentions report and well below average trade estimates.
Quarterly U.S. soybean stocks came in at 1.79 billion bushels, which was at below average trade guesses, but still about 500 million above the level at the same time a year ago.
The USDA reported private export sales of 544,000 tonnes of soybeans to China this morning.
Meanwhile, CORN was down sharply, posting near limit-down losses.
U.S. corn acres were pegged at 91.7 million acres by the USDA. That was down slightly from the March intentions, but well off the average trade guesses which were well below 90 million.
The USDA said that it would resurvey 14 Midwestern states to get a better picture of actual acres. The timing of the survey in early June, when farmers were still struggling with wet fields, meant that the results likely included intentions rather than what was actually seeded. The new numbers will be published on August 12.
WHEAT moved lower in sympathy with corn. All wheat acres in the U.S. were pegged at 45.6 million, which was in line with expectations.
Of the total, spring wheat came in at 12.4 million acres, down by 400,000 from March.
U.S. wheat stocks as of June 1 were also in line with expectations, at just over 1 billion bushels.
