MarketsFarm — The size of the fund short position in continued to rise in early March, according to the latest Commitments of Traders data out from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
As of March 7, the net managed money short position in canola came in at 46,222 contracts (61,998 short/15,776 long), an increase of about 3,000 contracts from the previous week and the largest net short position in three years. The CFTC is still catching up with its reports after technical issues delayed results for most of February.
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Open interest in the canola market came in at 288,738 contracts on March 7, but has since climbed to over 311,000 as of March 17, according to ICE Futures data. The increase in open interest as futures prices trended lower implies the fund traders continued to add to their short positions.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, the managed money net long position in soybeans came in at 154,600 contracts on March 7, while the corn long position was only at about 15,600 contracts, dropping by 200,000 in the span of two weeks.
In wheat, the Chicago soft wheat market reported a net short position of about 103,000 contracts. The fund position in Kansas City (K.C.) wheat was showing a net short of about 11,500. In Minneapolis, the net short position was around 3,000 contracts.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
