Glacier FarmMedia — Speculative fund traders were adding toa recently-established net short position in canola at the end of September, said the first Commitments of Traders report from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) since the end of the U.S. federal government shutdown.
Why it matters: A large fund position can sway the futures markets
Reporting was halted during the 43-day shutdown that began Oct. 1, and backdated reports will be released twice a week over the next two months until the data is current by late January.
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The net managed money long position in canola futures came in at 13,741 contracts as of Sept. 30 (47,649 long/61,400 short). That was up by about 9,000 contracts from the previous week and marks the largest net short in canola since April.
Canola futures trended steadily higher during the data blackout — a sign that the speculative money moved back to the long side in the oilseed.
Fund traders were also short soybeans at the Chicago Board of Trade ahead of the government shutdown. The net short of about 31,600 contracts in soybeans as of Sept. 30 was the largest short position since early August. Soybean futures also moved higher since late September.
The net short position in corn came in at about 129,300 contracts on Sept. 30.
In wheat, the Chicago soft wheat market reported a net short position of 96,200 contracts. The net short in hard red winter wheat came in at roughly 54,100 contracts. In MIAX spring wheat, managed money traders were holding a net short of around 26,200 contracts as of Sept. 30.
