Winnipeg, MB, Aug. 14, 2014

ICE Futures Canada canola were weaker on Thursday, settling just above major support as losses in outside vegetable oil markets weighed on prices.

Malaysian palm oil futures hit their weakest levels in five years in overnight activity, and CBOT soyoil futures also posted large losses.

CBOT soybeans were higher, which is normally supportive for canola, but the Canadian crop is more closely linked to the oil part of the bean complex and the losses in the outside vegetable oil markets were bearish.

Chart-based fund selling contributed to the losses in canola, according to participants. However, the November contract did find some support after hitting the psychological C$430 per tonne level earlier in the day and held range-bound overall.

A lack of farmer selling given the continued uncertainty over the size of the Canadian crop also helped limit the losses, with dryness in some parts of the Prairies raising some concerns, said traders.

About 18,784 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 15,558 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 7,624 of the contracts traded.

Milling wheat, durum, and barley were all untraded.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.

                          Price      Change
Canola            Nov     432.40    dn 3.00
                  Jan     437.50    dn 2.70
                  Mar     439.70    dn 2.30
Milling Wheat     Oct     200.00    unch
                  Dec     205.00    unch
Durum             Oct     250.00    unch
                  Dec     256.00    unch
Barley            Oct     136.00    unch
                  Dec     138.00    unch
     Spread trade prices are in Canadian dollars and the volume
represents the number of spreads:
Months        Prices                      Volume
Canola
Nov/Jan       5.30 under to 4.80 under     2,385
Nov/Mar       7.20 under to 6.80 under        42
Nov/May       1.80 under to 4.30 under       414
Nov/Jul       1.20 under to 1.00 under         7
Jan/Mar       2.40 under to 1.60 under       507
Jan/May       0.40 over                        5
Jan/Jul       4.00 over                        1
Mar/May       2.50 over to 2.80 over         307
May/Jul       3.00 over to 3.50 over          48
Jul/Nov       0.30 over to 4.30 over          96

Commodity News Service