North American Grain/Oilseed Review: Canola regains lost ground

The ICE Futures canola market was stronger on Wednesday, recovering some of the losses posted earlier in the week.

A rally in Chicago Board of Trade soyoil provided some spillover support for canola, with European rapeseed futures also up on the day. Tight old crop supplies and uncertainty over new crop production contributed to the gains.

Wet conditions in the eastern Prairies have delayed seeding operations in the region, although warming temperatures should allow farmers to get on their fields soon. Meanwhile, planting is well underway in Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan, although the lack of moisture was being watched closely.

Statistics Canada releases its stocks as of March 31 report on Friday, which will provide a clearer picture on usage-to-date and available supplies heading into the new crop year.

About 16,891 canola contracts traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 21,930 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 7,636 of the contracts traded.

SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were stronger on Wednesday, as a rally in soyoil provided support despite losses in soymeal. Gains in crude oil were supportive for the oilseed markets.

The slow start to spring seeding across much of the Midwest remained supportive. However, corn is typically seeded first, and if corn seeding is pushed back too far some intended corn area could shift into beans instead.

Chinese and Malaysian markets remained closed for holidays, limiting some of the activity in the United States futures.

CORN traded to both sides of unchanged on Wednesday but managed to hold onto small gains in the most active months at the close as advances in soybeans and wheat provided spillover support.

The U.S. corn crop was 14 per cent planted in the latest weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture report. That was up seven points from the previous week, but still well off the 33 per cent five-year average.

WHEAT posted solid gains, seeing a corrective bounce after Tuesday’s losses.

While there is some much-needed rain in the forecasts for parts of the dry southern Plains, many areas will miss out on most of the moisture which was keeping a weather premium in the winter wheat futures.

Meanwhile, persistent seeding delays for spring wheat in the northern U.S. and Canada due to cool and wet conditions also provided some support.

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