North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola drifts lower with soybeans

The ICE Futures canola market was weaker on Monday, taking some direction from Chicago Board of Trade soybeans to start the week.

Speculative selling was a feature, with prices testing nearby chart support.

Ideas that demand was backing away at current price levels added to the declines, with softening cash basis levels for nearby delivery seen at many locations.

However, CBOT soyoil managed to move higher by the close, providing some support. Ongoing concerns over tight supplies also helped temper the losses.

About 20,558 canola contracts traded on Monday, which compares with Friday when 26,928 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 10,886 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Monday, after trading to both sides of unchanged in choppy activity. While soyoil managed to end higher on the day, soymeal posted sizeable losses.

A lack of significant fresh end user demand was seen as putting some pressure on soybeans. While United States weekly export inspections of 1.15 million tonnes were up slightly on the week, total U.S. shipments during the crop year to date of 38.8 million tonnes were running well off the 50.3 million tonnes moved by the same time a year ago.

The advancing Brazilian harvest also weighed on prices, with reports out of the country pegging it at about a quarter done.

While rains in parts of South America likely delayed some harvest activity, the moisture was generally welcome especially as dry areas of Argentina also received rain over the weekend.

CORN was also pressured by the South American rain, but managed to move higher by the close. A turn higher in wheat provided some support.

Solid weekly U.S. corn export inspections, at 1.45 million tonnes, were somewhat supportive. However, much like soybeans, total exports during the crop year to date at 20.1 million tonnes, were running 12.5 per cent behind the year ago pace.

WHEAT managed to turn higher after a choppy session. The ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine continued to keep the wheat market on edge, as the two countries are major exporters.

However, optimism over the latest diplomatic talks was enough to temper the upside on Monday.

The Western Producer

Tags: corn futures, soybeans, soyoil, canola market, wheat futures, soybean futures