Winnipeg Commodity Exchange canola futures were higher on Tuesday after palm oil and soyabean oil futures rallied and on fund and commercial buying, traders said.
Canola ended 70 cents to $3.30 per tonne higher, with July up 70 cents at $392.30 and November up $2.20 at $409.80 after earlier hitting a contract high of $413.50.
Trade estimates of fund buying ranged up to 1,000 contracts. Export buying was thought to be mainly routine, although talk about demand from China continued to percolate through the market, traders said. Crushers were also buyers with gains in allied markets, traders said.
Chicago Board of Trade July soyabean oil ended 0.52 US cent per lb higher at 36.27 US cents with July soyabeans up 12-1/2 US cents per bushel at US $8.28-1/4. Hedges weighed on the market at the close, traders said.
Some traders said news that Saskatchewan crops were 85 percent planted was supportive to prices, given that remaining acres were unlikely to be planted to canola. Others thought the market had already written off those acres. Environment Canada forecast rain and cool temperatures across the Prairies until the weekend.
In spread trade, an estimated 4,214 July/November traded from $15.40 to $17.90, 247 November/January from $6 to $6.90, 170 January/March from $5 to $6.10 and 341 March/May at $5.50. Canola volume was estimated at 17,916 contracts, up from a total of 14,486 on Monday. Barley futures were higher in two-way commercial trade as optimism builds about an August 1 end to the Canadian Wheat Board's barley monopoly, outweighing hedge pressure, a trader said.