Winnipeg, MB, Sept. 17, 2014

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts settled with small losses in the most active months on Wednesday, after a choppy day that saw prices trade to both sides of unchanged.

Mounting harvest pressure, as weather conditions turn warmer and drier across the Canadian Prairies, contributed to the declines, said participants who noted that early yield reports were beating expectations.

Bearish technical signals added to the weakness in canola, although values managed to hold above key support levels.

Advances in CBOT soyoil, which has gained nearly two cents per pound in the December contract over the past week, helped underpin canola, said traders.

There is also still enough uncertainty over the size and quality of the canola crop to keep some weather premiums in the futures.

About 16,679 canola contracts were traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when 19,231 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 11,432 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     411.60    dn 0.60
                  Jan     416.50    dn 0.40
                  Mar     422.10    dn 0.50
Milling Wheat     Oct     192.00    unch
                  Dec     199.00    unch
Durum             Oct     288.80    unch
                  Dec     294.80    unch
Barley            Oct     123.50    unch
                  Dec     125.50    unch
     Spread trade prices are in Canadian dollars and the volume
represents the number of spreads:
Months        Prices                      Volume
Canola
Nov/Jan       5.00 under to 4.40 under     3,441
Nov/Mar       10.50 under to 10.30 under      31
Nov/May       14.10 under                      2
Nov/Jul       17.40 under                      1
Jan/Mar       6.00 under to 5.30 under     1,498
Jan/Jul       13.40 under                      1
Mar/May       4.30 under to 3.80 under       129
May/Jul       3.80 under to 3.30 under       207
Jul/Nov       6.10 over to 8.30 over         406

Commodity News Service