HAMBURG: Rapeseed rose to all-time highs on Monday, supported by tight stocks, strong demand and a rally in soybeans, while European wheat futures were little changed with many market participants absent after Christmas.
The February rapeseed contract set a record high for Euronext at 783.50 euros a tonne, supported by tight old-crop EU supplies, strong demand and dry weather threatening South American soybean production regions, traders said.
Meanwhile, March milling wheat, the most active contract on the Paris-based Euronext exchange, was unchanged at 290.25 euros ($328.74) a tonne at 1700 GMT.
The front-month rapeseed contract has nearly doubled in the past year, supported by small global supplies with a drought-ravaged canola crop in Canada and a harvest below average in the European Union.
Traders and analysts also highlighted strong demand for rapeseed oil after some European countries, including France, restricted the use of palm oil and soybean oil in biodiesel.
“If vegetable oil prices recover, rapeseed will have room to show the extreme tension of its fundamentals and to continue ... to ration demand via an increase in prices,” French analyst Agritel said.
Agritel also mentioned the latest figures by the EU vegetable oil and meal industry association FEDIOL showing rapeseed crushing at the highest ever posted for a month of November at 1.674 million tonnes, which further widened the seed deficit in Europe.
In Germany, premiums were often nominal in thin trade, with many participants also still absent from cash markets.
Standard 12% protein wheat for January onwards delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale at around 8 euros over Euronext March. Purchase interest was assessed at around 6 euros over. ($1 = 0.8829 euros).
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