MarketsFarm — Feed barley bids in Western Canada have softened over the past few weeks, but should stabilize as the spring approaches.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of potential to push this thing much higher, and I don’t think the bottom will fall out either. What you see is what you get,” Matt Froehlich, a trader with JGL Commodities in Moose Jaw, said of the current feed barley market.
End users are relatively full for the time being and may be looking to lower their bids, but Froehlich noted declining truck freight rates would limit price movement from the farmer’s standpoint.
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“Truck freight rates should be loosening up, as fertilizer backhauls start up again,” he said.
Values also usually stay stable through the road ban season, as end-users need to pay up to keep product showing up at their door.
Blockades slowing rail movement across Canada may not have a direct influence on domestic feed grains, but Froehlich noted some grain intended for export may be backing up in the countryside and could move to domestic feed channels instead.
The larger-than-normal amount of grain left to overwinter across the Prairies this year will also be harvested soon.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
