By Phil Franz-Warkentin, MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Jan. 5 (MarketsFarm) – The ICE Futures canola market was up sharply at midday Tuesday, hitting fresh contract high as the futures tracked gains in the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex.
The March contract was trading just below the psychological C$650 per tonne level at midday, as speculators were back adding to their large net long positions.
CBOT soybeans touched their strongest levels in more than six years with South American production concerns driving that market. Harvest operations are just getting started in Brazil, with dryness earlier in the growing season likely cutting into the size of the crop.
Broad weakness in the United States dollar internationally was also supportive for the grains and oilseeds in Chicago. However, relative strength in the Canadian dollar tempered the upside in the canola market to some extent.
Scale-up farmer hedges and ideas canola was looking overbought also slowed the advances.
About 24,000 canola contracts traded as of 10:32 CST.
Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne at 10:32 CST:
Price Change
Canola Mar 648.90 up 13.20
May 641.00 up 14.80
Jul 631.00 up 15.20
Nov 550.00 up 7.00
