North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola mostly lower

The ICE Futures canola market was mostly lower at Tuesday’s close, seeing a profit-taking correction after Monday’s rally. The largest losses were in the nearby old crop contracts, as the old/new crop spreads narrowed in.

Gains in outside markets, including Chicago Board of Trade soyoil and European rapeseed, provided some spillover support for canola throughout the session. The tight old crop supply situation and the need to encourage acres this spring also underpinned the futures.

However, with demand shifting from the old to the new crop there was room for some profit-taking on oversold price-sentiment.

About 20,080 canola contracts traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when 18,144 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 12,618 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were stronger on Tuesday, seeing some follow-through buying interest after Monday’s gains.

A truckers union in Argentina was threatening taking strike action due to rising fuel prices, which could limit export movement out of the South American country.

Recent gains in crude oil and world vegetable oil markets also remained supportive.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply/demand estimates will be out on Friday, with pre-report positioning behind some of the activity.

CORN tested fresh contact highs in the new crop months for the fourth straight session, as chart signals remained pointed higher.

The U.S. corn crop was two per cent seeded as of this past Sunday, according to a report from the USDA. That’s in line with the average for this time of year. Farmers in Texas had 55 per cent of the corn crop planted already, up one point from the five-year average.

Ideas that corn prices need to stay strong, in order to encourage acres away from soybeans were supportive.

WHEAT futures were higher across the board, with the largest gains in Kansas City hard red winter wheat.

The U.S. winter wheat crop was rated 30 per cent good-to-excellent in the first countrywide estimate since November. That was down by 14 points from before it went into dormancy. An estimated 36 per cent was rated poor-to-very-poor.

Spring wheat seeding was underway, with three per cent of intended acres in the ground. That compares with the two per cent average for this time of year.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine remained a supportive influence in the wheat market.

The Western Producer

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