ICE Canadian canola futures closed lower Friday, following the US market and pressured by a stronger Canadian dollar. May canola fell $3.20 to $403.10 on a volume of 2,513 while July was off $3.50 to $402.70 on 1,823 contracts. November canola dropped $4.70 to $405 on 212 contracts.
Farmers are holding onto stock to attempt to raise prices, but thats acting as a drag on other selling and keeping volumes small, one trader said. A lack of export business is behind the slow trading week, another trader said.
China has bought 120,000 tonnes of soyabeans, the US Agriculture Department announced Friday, but it isnt expected to buy canola for at least another week, the trader said. Elevators did a small amount of hedging by selling futures, a trader said. There were 1,294 May/July spreads at $1 over the July to $1.20 under; The July/November spread sold just 132 times at $1.30 under to $3.40 under the November.
Chicago Board of Trade May soyabeans dropped 5-1/2 US cents to US $8.76-1/2 a bushel at close, following strong gains Thursday. That put pressure on canola futures. The Canadian dollar was trading at $1.2731 to $1.2736 to the US dollar, or about 78.54 US cents, at 13:57 CST (1957 GMT), up from Thursdays close of C$1.2791 to the US dollar, or 78.18 US cents. Crude oil was down at the same time 1 US dollar at US $46.04 per barrel.