Winnipeg, MB, Oct. 2, 2014

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts settled higher on Thursday, as spillover from the firmer tone in CBOT soybeans and positioning ahead of Friday's Statistics Canada production report provided support.

Solid end user demand, especially from domestic crushers, contributed to the gains, with a lack of significant farmer selling on the other side also behind some of the strength, according to participants.

However, while farmers are currently focused on harvest operations, sales from the countryside are expected to start picking up over the next few weeks.

Statistics Canada releases updated production estimates on Friday, October 3. While most industry participants anticipate a slight upward revision to the size of the canola crop from the last report, actual yield reports have been highly variable as the harvest moves forward. The market will follow the report closely, but the numbers will also likely be second-guessed as soon as they come out, as the survey was conducted in early September before any serious harvest progress had taken place.

About 23,293 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 16,095 contracts changed hands. Spreading was a feature, accounting for 21,460 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     398.20    up 2.30
                  Jan     404.30    up 2.00
                  Mar     411.20    up 1.90
Milling Wheat     Dec     202.00    unch
                  Mar     211.00    unch
Durum             Dec     309.70    unch
                  Mar     310.70    unch
Barley            Dec     116.80    unch
                  Mar     119.50    unch
     Spread trade prices are in Canadian dollars and the volume
represents the number of spreads:
Months        Prices                      Volume
Canola
Nov/Jan       6.90 under to 5.70 under     6,242
Nov/Mar       13.90 under to 12.60 under     510
Nov/May       19.90 under to 19.70 under     150
Nov/Jul       26.00 under to 25.50 under     108
Jan/Mar       7.20 under                   1,241
Jan/May       13.80 under                    249
Jan/Jul       19.60 under to 19.00 under     133
Mar/May       6.80 under to 6.20 under     1,575
Mar/Jul       11.60 under to 11.40 under      28
May/Jul       6.00 under to 5.10 under       417
Jul/Nov       6.20 under to 4.90 under        77

Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service