Jonathan Lane, Gleadell’s trading director, comments on the OSR market

The US soybean market has firmed throughout the week with a combination of short covering/profit taking, poor weather delaying the US harvest, good Chinese crush margins and some planting delays in Brazil. A weaker US dollar should also offer some support to prices, but the overall picture remains one of a very large North American crop and huge planting intentions in South America.

In Europe and the UK the physical market has firmed slightly as the MATIF rapeseed contract ticked higher. Farmers in the main continue to hold seed as levels remain below target prices, though in the UK £240/t ex farm has triggered some sales. Crush margins are positive in spot positions but at present we don’t see crush demand or short-covering merchants driving prices significantly higher.

Currency has again offered support to UK prices. Dollar weakness, caused by poor economic data, is supporting the euro, which has in turn led to euro strength against sterling.