Winnipeg, MB, Aug. 22, 2014

ICE Futures Canada canola settled at fresh lows for the third straight session on Friday, as an early corrective bounce proved short-lived.

While CBOT soybeans settled higher, fund traders liquidating long canola positions and covering shorts in CBOT soybeans accounted for some of the relative weakness in the Canadian oilseed, according to a broker.

Bearish chart signals and losses in CBOT soyoil added to the softer tone in canola, according to participants.

However, Canada's smaller canola crop and the need to keep some weather premiums in the futures ahead of the harvest did help temper the declines. Temperatures dipped near the freezing mark in parts of northern Alberta overnight, while rainfall in southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan was not really needed at this late stage of development.

About 8,508 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 14,354 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 5,276 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     418.30    dn 1.30
                  Jan     423.60    dn 1.30
                  Mar     428.40    dn 1.60
Milling Wheat     Oct     202.00    unch
                  Dec     207.00    unch
Durum             Oct     250.00    unch
                  Dec     256.00    unch
Barley            Oct     135.00    unch
                  Dec     137.00    unch
     Spread trade prices are in Canadian dollars and the volume
represents the number of spreads:
Months        Prices                      Volume
Canola
Nov/Jan       5.60 under to 5.10 under     1,297
Nov/May       10.50 under to 10.30 under     203
Jan/Mar       5.20 under to 4.70 under       227
Jan/Jul       4.40 under                       9
Mar/May       0.50 under to 0.10 under       322
May/Jul       0.20 over to 0.60 over         140
Jul/Nov       0.50 under                     440

Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service