MarketsFarm – As winter approaches, corn is making up a greater appearance in feed channels, supplanting barley and wheat in the process.
“In Western Canada, the yields were significantly lower than average. So we’re importing a lot of feed into Western Canada, mostly corn and corn with DDGs (dried distillers’ grains),” said Allen Pirness, manager of Market Place Commodities Ltd. in Lethbridge, Alta.
“(Corn) is being brought in, mostly from North Dakota. There is some that probably comes in from Minnesota, maybe Iowa and South Dakota, as well,” he added.
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However, just like wheat, corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) have also rallied. On Nov. 2, the December corn contract reached its highest price since August at US$5.8600 per bushel, despite hitting its low price of US$4.8650 on Sept. 10.
“We’re kind of getting close to the top end of the range that we’ve been in. (Corn) is higher than it was a few weeks ago, but the spread to barley still seems to be maintaining as well, because barley is going up as well,” said Pirness, who added that demand for corn has provided relief for barley, of which there is less supply.
He also believes it will be a while until corn makes way for barley and wheat again.
“It’s going to be at least until next harvest (before that happens). We know what we have from this year and it’s not enough,” Pirness explained.
