Canola found support from a firmer soybean oil market, and a weaker Canadian dollar helped Winnipeg canola trade higher.  This was despite Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada revising its canola ending stocks up by 650,000t to 2.2 million tonnes.  US funds continued their recent reversal, selling down positions through the week, but remain very long overall.

Conditions remain dry in Ukraine, which received some much-needed rain over the weekend, and Russia, where concerns exist for new-season planting.  Markets will this week be watching for further macro developments, China trade flows, corn harvest progress and farmer selling reactions, along with weather in Argentina, Australia and the Black Sea. Conditions remain dry in Western Australia, and some talk of frost damage is appearing in parts of New South Wales.

New-crop markets remained relatively unchanged on Friday, with ASX contracts settling $2/t higher from Thursday. Limited volume from the grower and trade continues to find its way to market, and it feels the market hasn’t seen a huge wave of selling yet as we lead into harvest.  Harvest in Queensland continues to come off the header in small volume, and parts of the border regions of Queensland and New South Wales will look to fire up within the next 15-20 days.

Weekly rainfall totals were good for a large part of South Australian, Victorian and southern NSW cropping areas. In WA, light scattered showers delivered up to 10 millimetres of rain to keep the crop going, but the state’s northern regions are in desperate need of a good drink.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s eight-day forecast remains positive for South Australia and Victoria again, which is perfect timing for crops, but not so good for growers who are now cutting, baling and selling hay.