MarketsFarm — After hitting the largest speculative short position in canola on record, managed money fund traders were finally covering those bearish bets in late March, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
As of March 28, the net managed money short position in canola futures came in at 63,005 contracts (79,922 short/16,917 long), a decrease of about 12,000 contracts from the previous week.
Open interest in the canola market came in at 296,705 contracts on March 28, which was down by about 14,000 from the previous week.
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An analyst expected to see more fund selling over the next few weeks, especially given the recent rally in crude oil, as fund traders will want to exit the May contract ahead of its expiry.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, fund traders were holding a net long of about 98,400 contracts in soybeans which was down by 13,000 from the previous week. Meanwhile, corn was showing a net short of about 13,400, which was down by 32,000 from the previous week.
In wheat, the Chicago soft wheat market reported a net short position of about 92,600 contracts. The fund position in Kansas City wheat was near even money, after showing a net short of about 10,000 the previous week. In Minneapolis, the fund position was also balanced, with managed money traders holding close to 11,000 contracts on either side of the market to post a net long of 278 contracts.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
