MarketsFarm — As the grain harvest wraps up in Western Canada, feed grain prices continued to move downward. However, harvest pressure was not the only reason for their declines.
Evan Peterson of JGL Commodities at Moose Jaw, Sask. heard others say their crops were larger than anticipated — but there were additional factors adding pressure on prices.
“Also, corn being substituted for barley brought prices down. (There’s) also a lack of Canadian exports for barley, which is putting pressure on prices, as well. There’s nowhere to go with it (right now),” Peterson said.
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The removal of Chinese tariffs on Australian barley last August dried up overseas demand for the Canadian crop, he added. But with the cattle run just starting, there will be some demand at home.
“We’re starting to get more mouths to feed in southern Alberta. I think we’ll see a little pop in demand here, probably over the next month or so. Feeders still seem to be relatively covered here until Christmas and then we’ll start buying for Christmas in the next little while,” Peterson said.
He believes prices have already hit as low as they can go.
“We fell pretty hard. We’ve seen barley drop about $70 per tonne ($1.52 per bushel). So I think (prices) have dropped to a point where we’ve seen farmers move what they had to move to make room and they’re looking now at storing grain to see if prices do come up. It feels like for now, we’ve kind of bottomed out,” he added.
As of Thursday, delivered bids for feed barley in Alberta ranged from $5.75 to $7.62/bu., according to Prairie Ag Hotwire, down 33 cents from last month and down C$1.52 from last year. In Saskatchewan, bids ranged from $5.50 to $5.80/bu., 70 cents less than last month and $1.20 less than one year earlier. In Manitoba, bids ranged from $5.25 to $5.82, down 69 cents from a month ago and down $1.18 from a year ago.
For feed wheat, delivered bids in Alberta were between $7.62 and $9.93/bu., declines of 54 cents from last month and $2.18 from last year. In Saskatchewan, bids went down by 63 cents from last month and $2.88 from last year at $8-$8.88. In Manitoba, there was only one bid at $8.46/bu., down two cents from a month ago and down $2.12 from last year.
— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.
