By Glen Hallick, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Dec. 17 (MarketsFarm) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) canola futures closed higher on Friday, with the more substantial gains in the heavily-traded old crop months.
Support came from strong gains in Malaysian palm oil, also more moderate increases in Chicago soybeans and soymeal, as well as most European rapeseed positions. Declines in Chicago soyoil plus global crude oil prices weighed on edible oil values.
Additional support was derived from tight canola supplies and the need to ration demand. However, the Canadian oilseed can be seen as overpriced.
Read Also
ICE Canola Midday: Losing ground in ‘direction-less’ trade
By Glen Hallick Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – Canola futures on the Intercontinental Exchange slipped back late Friday morning, in…
This week also marks the last full week of trading before the holiday season, with traders squaring their positions. There will now be two short weeks, which are likely to see reduced volumes and more volatility.
At mid-afternoon the Canadian dollar was weaker, with the loonie at 77.63 U.S. cents, compared to Thursday’s close of 78.24.
There were 22,433 contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 20,559 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 13,770 contracts traded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.
Price Change
Canola Jan 1,014.30 up 13.30
Mar 1,002.70 up 17.00
May 965.40 up 15.90
Jul 915.20 up 15.50
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were higher on Friday, following private sales and concerns about dryness in Brazil.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced private sales of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to China and 33,000 tonnes of soyoil to India. Delivery for both is to be during the current marketing year.
IHS Markit bumped up its forecast on U.S. soybean acres in 2022 by one per cent at nearly 88.82 million.
Although Brazil received rain, most of it has missed the dry southern regions, which is becoming a cause for concern in the markets. Nevertheless, reports said the country’s crop is currently in good shape.
IHS Markit has maintained its forecast on Brazil soybean production for 2021/22 at 145 million tonnes. Also, Planalytics projected Brazil’s soybean yields to be 52.5 bushels per acre, and 43.4 in Argentina.
CORN futures were slightly higher on Friday, getting some spillover from the winter wheats and soybeans.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has called on the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation of the fertilizer market. Grassley stated that two companies control the country’s potash supply and four companies control 75 per cent of the nitrogen supply.
IHS Markit added 0.9 per cent to its call on U.S. corn acres in 2022 at 91.58 million. Meanwhile, the consultancy cut 4.1 per cent off of its call on Brazil’s first corn crop, now at 28.3 million.
The European Commission said corn production in the European Union is to climb 1.5 per cent in 2022 at 69.4 million tonnes.
WHEAT futures were mixed on Friday, with gains for Chicago and Kansas City but declines for Minneapolis.
IHS Markit cut 1.6 per cent off of its forecast on U.S. wheat acres in 2022 at 48.6 million. The consultancy trimmed winter wheat acres by about one per cent at 34.03 million and 2.4 per cent off of spring wheat at 12.72 million acres.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BAGE) reported the wheat harvest in Argentina was two-thirds complete as of Dec. 16. The BAGE held its production estimate at 21 million tonnes.
The European Commission said EU wheat production is to nudge up 0.2 per cent in 2022 at 130.6 million tonnes.
The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia stated wheat quality concerns about this year’s crop are regional and won’t affect quantity.
