Winnipeg, MB, Sept. 18, 2014

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts settled at fresh contract lows on Thursday, as declines in the CBOT soy complex spilled over to weigh on values.

The most active November contract dropped below its previous low of C$409.00 per tonne in early activity, which triggered additional sell-stops, said participants.

The declines in canola were also tied to mounting Canadian harvest pressure and increased farmer hedges, as weather conditions improve across the Prairies, said traders.

A firmer tone in the Canadian dollar, which was up by over half a cent relative to its US counterpart, contributed to the declines in canola.

Scale down end user demand did provide some underlying support. There was also still enough uncertainty over the size and quality of the canola crop to keep some weather premiums in the futures, according to participants.

About 30,181 canola contracts were traded on Thursday, which compares with Wednesday when 16,679 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 24,660 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     406.40    dn 5.20
                  Jan     412.80    dn 3.70
                  Mar     418.90    dn 3.20
Milling Wheat     Oct     190.00    unch
                  Dec     197.00    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       6.50 under to 4.60 under     7,291
Nov/Mar       12.70 under to 11.70 under     487
Nov/May       17.50 under to 16.30 under     229
Nov/Jul       21.20 under to 20.50 under      17
Jan/Mar       6.30 under to 5.60 under     1,414
Jan/May       10.50 under to 10.40 under      21
Jan/Jul       15.00 under                     10
Mar/May       5.20 under to 4.20 under       853
May/Jul       4.20 under to 3.70 under     1,366
Jul/Nov       6.00 over to 8.30 over         607
Nov/Jan       3.60 under to 3.50 under        35

Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service