Canola futures closed just slightly lower on Thursday, following the release of a Statistics Canada grain stocks report which confirmed the tightening old-crop supply.
The report pegged national canola stockpiles as of March 31 at just 5.869 million tonnes, down 38.7% from a year earlier. However, much of the tighter stocks story was already in the market, with the average pre-report trade guess for stocks around 6 million tonnes.
Canola declined even as other competing vegetable oils were stronger today, including Chicago soyoil, European rapeseed, and Malaysian palm oil. The Canadian dollar was weaker.
July canola eased 40 cents to $700.90, and November slipped 50 cents to $662.50.
