ICE Canada canola futures closed 2 percent lower on Friday as slipping US crude oil and soybean prices weighed down the market and as weather appears favourable for harvesting in Canada, traders said. The forecast for the Prairies is dry and unusually mild.
January canola has lost $24.60 per tonne or 6 percent since reaching as high as $411.30 on Wednesday as the weather forecast improved. Canola harvesting in the top growing province of Saskatchewan is just 70 percent complete due to damp crop. Benchmark January dipped to $386.60, the contract's lowest price since dropping to $385.10 on October 26.
-- January fell $7.90 to settle at $386.70 with a volume of 7,458 contracts
-- March dropped $8.10 to settle at $392.40 on a volume of 519 contracts
Front-month November canola is in delivery mode. Talks between Canada and China about China's refusal to import Canadian canola seed with blackleg disease will continue next week, Canadian agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said on Friday. Canola is likely to be under pressure next week as China's November 15 deadline approaches, a trader said. The January-March spread traded 439 times with a premium on March between $5.50 and $6.30. Light crude oil was trading down US $2.64, or more than 3 percent, at US $76.98 per barrel at 1:15 pm CST (1915 GMT).