The rapeseed contracts on the Euronext/Matif closed with clear gains on Friday. For the front month, prices went northwards by EUR 9 to EUR 475.75/t. On a monthly basis, however, there was still a clear minus of EUR 52.50 per tonne on the last trading day. On the last trading day in February, the May date still costs 528.25 euros/t. Support on Friday came from both the soybean complex and concerns over the upcoming Canadian crop. Soil moisture is low in the main Canadian Premium growing areas, which is likely to affect sowing of summer crops. In addition, the snow cover is very thin and there is a risk of weather damage to winter crops. On Friday, soybeans were able to leave the last trading day of the month with significant gains and, with this price gain, also achieve a positive result for the month. The main reason why soybeans started to rally was that soybean acreage in the USA in 2023 is unlikely to be as high as previously expected. Although the acreage forecast by the USDA on Friday is slightly higher than last year and one of the third largest areas in the last decade, at 87.50 millionAcres, however, the area is smaller than the analysts had predicted in advance. They had expected 88.24 million acres. Soybean inventories in the US were also lower than expected, which also boosted prices. For today's "Fats & Oil Report" by the Ministry of Agriculture, a significant increase in the February processing figures is expected. Soybean meal and soybean oil also benefited from the rally in beans.
Source
VR AGRICULTURAL
