By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, April 29 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was sharply lower on Friday, seeing a profit-taking correction ahead of the weekend after climbing to contract highs in recent sessions.
Losses in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil and European rapeseed futures accounted for some spillover selling pressure in the Canadian oilseed.
However, the underlying technical trend remains pointed higher, despite Friday’s selloff, making the losses a buying opportunity from a chart standpoint.
Wet conditions in the eastern Prairies with forecasts calling for more moisture over the weekend were also somewhat supportive, as seeding will likely be delayed in Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan.
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The ongoing conflict in Ukraine remained a feature in the agricultural markets. Unilever announced Thursday that it was adjusting the recipes for a number of its products to use rapeseed oil instead of sunflower oil. Ukraine typically accounts for about half of the world’s sunflower oil exports.
About 14,958 canola contracts traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 11,103 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 6,212 of the contracts traded.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade traded to both sides of unchanged on Friday, with the bias to the upside in the front months as gains in soymeal countered the bearish influence of a correction lower in soyoil.
Argentina’s soybean harvest was pegged at 46 per cent by the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, which was up from only 15 per cent a week ago as farmers made good progress. Production in the country was estimated at 42 million tonnes.
Solid export demand for U.S. soybeans recently remained supportive, although there were no fresh flash sales announced on Friday.
CORN remained underpinned by solid export demand, hitting fresh contract highs before profit-taking came forward to keep the market near unchanged by the close.
While the war in Ukraine continues to hamper export movement from the Black Sea, the country still managed to export 763,000 tonnes of grain in April. That was more than double what moved in March, according to the Ukrainian agriculture ministry.
Argentina’s corn harvest was only about 25 per cent complete this week, up less than two percentage points from the previous week, as growers concentrated on soybeans.
WHEAT was lower, seeing some profit-taking ahead of the weekend.
Forecasts calling for some precipitation in the dry southern U.S. Plains were bearish, although moisture in the north continues to delay spring wheat seeding.
Europe’s soft wheat crop was forecast at 130.1 million tonnes by the European Commission, which would be down by 1.2 million from an earlier estimate. However, projected exports of 40 million tonnes would be a record high.
