North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola mixed, with fresh highs in new crop months

The ICE Futures canola market was mixed on Thursday, hitting fresh contract highs in the new crop months while the nearby months moved lower as the old/new crop spread narrowed in.

The need to encourage more seeded area this spring underpinned the futures, especially as old crop supplies remain tight. A rally in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil was also supportive, although soybeans were lower on the day.

Bullish chart signals remained supportive, with the path of least resistance still pointing higher from a technical standpoint.

About 11,103 canola contracts traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 18,306 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,758 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were weaker on Thursday, as sharp losses in soymeal countered a move to fresh highs in soyoil.

Weekly United States soybean export sales included 481,000 tonnes of old crop business and an additional 580,000 tonnes of new crop.

Conflicting reports on Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports led to some volatility in the vegetable oil markets over the past week, with the latest details indicating the world’s largest palm oil exporter will halt sales of both refined and crude palm oil for three weeks.

CORN was underpinned by solid export demand on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly export sales of about 1.7 million tonnes of corn, roughly evenly split between the old and new crop. Additional flash sales of just over a million tonnes to China were also announced this morning.

Bullish chart signals contributed to the gains in corn as values tested fresh contract highs.

WHEAT futures were mixed throughout the trading session, but were weaker at the close with the largest losses in Kansas City hard red winter wheat.

Weekly U.S. wheat export sales included only 32,000 tonnes of net old crop business, as there were large cancellations reported. New crop business, at 124,000 tonnes, was at the lower end of expectations.

Tags: wheat futures, Market, canola, soybean futures, corn futures, soyoil