Jonathan Lane, Gleadell’s Trading Manager, comments on the OSR market

The soybean market continues to see tight nearby demand in the US but the harvest is progressing in Brazil. In Argentina the uncertainty continues with question marks remaining as to whether Argentine farmers will sell soybeans given the country’s inflation and currency problems.

Statistics Canada released its end of December stocks figures, putting canola stocks up 55.3% to a record 12.6mln tons.

The MATIF rapeseed contract has broken through important resistance levels this week. The underlying fundamentals have remained reasonably unchanged – on paper there is a plentiful supply of rapeseed in the world but for the time being the futures market appears to have run out of downward momentum.

The rise took the market by surprise and encouraged traders to cover short positions, which helped accelerate the rally. Immediate market direction is difficult to call. The upward move also encouraged some rapeseed sales.

In the UK the slight strengthening of the euro against sterling combined with the MATIF rally has pushed up UK domestic prices to farmer target selling levels. Good volumes of seed have come forward.