Canola futures closed weaker for the first time in four sessions on Monday amid declines in Chicago soybean oil over biofuel demand questions.
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved most of the requests by small oil refineries for exemptions to mandatory biofuel use. The ruling is seen reducing demand for biofuel, which can use soyoil as a feedstock in production.
Palm oil was also lower on the day, but European rapeseed was higher.
Friday’s Alberta crop report put the overall harvest in that province at just 2% complete as of early last week, behind the five- and 10-year averages. Canola was reported to be less than 1% harvested.
Prairie harvest progress is expected to accelerate in the coming days, with little rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Some frost and light freezes were reported in parts of Western Canada over the weekend, although no significant damage to crops is expected.
November canola fell $7.10 to $659.40, and January lost $6 to $671.50.
