Glacier FarmMedia – Feed grain markets in Western Canada remain under pressure, with end users well covered and farmers still sitting on large amounts of unpriced grain.
“The feedlots have been good at slowly buying on the way down, so coverage is set – aside from some spot movement here and there,” said Brandon Motz, owner of Cornine Commodities in Lacombe, Alta.
Delivered barley into southern Alberta is currently priced around C$297 per tonne, which is down by about C$10 per tonne the past month, according to data compiled by the Alberta Wheat Commission.
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“We haven’t seen crazy demand come into the market,” said Motz, adding that while the highs for feed barley were likely in, there was still room to the downside.
Adding to the lack of demand for domestic barley are the continued imports of corn from the United States. Export data for the week ended Jan. 25 shows that Canada has already imported 510,100 tonnes of U.S. corn during the marketing year that began Sept. 1. That compares with 196,300 tonnes of accumulated imports at the same time the previous year. There are an additional 305,800 tonnes of corn on the books slated to move later in the crop year – up by about 50,000 from the previous year’s outstanding sales at this time.
Motz expected the amount of unsold grain still on farm was above average for this time of year, with some farmers likely now showing some regret over not selling earlier. Some of those producers will continue to hold, and maybe build more bins, while others will be selling to generate cash flow ahead of the spring.
While the overall bias was pointing lower, Motz said the generally dry Prairie conditions could eventually provide some support. “If we stay dry through seeding… guys will be a lot less inclined to clean out the bins,” said Motz.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.
