By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, February 5 (CNS Canada) – The ICE Futures Canada canola complex posted modest gains on Monday, taking support from weakness in the Canadian currency and gains in vegetable oil.
Dry conditions persist in Argentina. Rain is forecast to fall in a few days’ time but there are growing worries it may not amount to all that much.
Farmer selling is on the sluggish side right now.
Crushers continue to buy canola and crush margins showed slight improvement.
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However, losses in soybeans were bearish.
Statistics Canada pegged Canadian canola stocks, as of Dec. 31, 2017, at 14.15 million tonnes, which was nearly 800,000 tonnes higher than a year ago.
Around 31,596 canola contracts were traded on Monday, which compares with Friaday when around 14,948 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 18,430 of the contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended lower in technical selling on Monday.
Rain is forecast to fall in Argentina this week, which should help alleviate some of the excess dryness plaguing soybean fields.
Soybean export inspections came in at 1.3 million tonnes, which was above trade expectations. That number also topped last week’s total of 1.1 million tonnes.
The corn market finished lower in technical selling. The market was also pressured by word that China will launch an investigation into U.S. sorghum exports.
There is a lot of U.S. corn for sale right now, which weighed down futures.
Informa economics pegged the 2017/18 Argentina corn crop at 37 million tonnes, which was down five million tonnes from the previous estimate.
Chicago wheat finished weaker on forecasts calling for rain to fall on the U.S. Southern Plains.
Traders also expect to see wheat production numbers lowered in Thursday’s USDA report.
Saudi Arabia purchased roughly 740,000 tonnes of hard wheat in a tender.
