North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola mixed after choppy day

The ICE Futures canola market was mixed at Wednesday’s close, setting fresh highs in the front months and moving lower in the more deferred positions. Markets in the United States will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and positioning ahead of the holiday was a feature.

Gains in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil futures provided some spillover support for canola, but the other U.S. grains and oilseeds were all weaker.

The underlying fundamentals for canola remain supportive, as the market continues to work to ration demand in the face of tight supplies.

Rail movement in British Columbia was reportedly resuming, bringing grain to the port of Vancouver once again. However, with more rain in the forecast, there could be more weather-related delays in the region.

About 23,576 canola contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 17,611 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 12,884 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Wednesday, with adjustments to the oil/meal spreads a feature ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Soyoil was up on the day, but soymeal was lower.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Ag Trade Outlook lowered their expectations for US soybean exports in 2021/22, citing weaker demand from China.

However, solid demand on Wednesday did provide some support. The USDA announced private export sales of 330,000 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations this morning and an additional 30,000 tonnes of soyoil to India.

CORN traded to both sides of unchanged, with the bias lower at the close as traders booked profits ahead of the holiday. U.S. markets will be closed Thursday and only open for reduced hours on Friday.

The USDA announced private export sales of 100,000 tonnes of corn to Mexico this morning.

U.S. ethanol production came in at 1.079 million barrels per day in the latest weekly report. That was up by about 19,000 per day from the previous week. Stocks of the renewable fuel were also higher on the week, rising to 20.164 million barrels.

WHEAT was steady to lower, with a sharp drop in Chicago soft wheat and a steadier tone in the Minneapolis and Kansas City contracts. Readjustment of the spreads between the three U.S. wheat contracts accounted for some of today’s activity.

U.S. winter wheat seeding is nearing completion, with conditions looking relatively favourable heading into the freeze.

Rains at harvest time in Australia have slowed progress and raised quality concerns in the country.

The Western Producer

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