(Resource News International) — Canaryseed bids in Saskatchewan have fallen over the past few weeks and are showing little sign of improvement, despite this year’s smaller Canadian crop.
Heading into the harvest, canaryseed had been priced at around 20 to 21 cents per pound, said Kevin Hursh, executive director of the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan. However, prices have since slid to current levels of around 17 cents per pound.
Hursh said the decline in canaryseed prices was a little surprising given the smaller crop this year, although he said yields were generally coming in better than expected.
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Saskatchewan farmers grew 135,700 tonnes of canaryseed in 2009-10, according to the latest Statistics Canada data. That compares with 184,600 the previous year. Canada is the only major exporter of canaryseed, and production in the country usually determines the direction prices take, as demand remains relatively constant.
Earlier in the growing season there had been some concern with the growing conditions in west-central Saskatchewan and most market participants had been of the opinion that there wasn’t much downside to canaryseed.
However, the crops ended up OK, and Hursh expected losses in other commodities spilled over to weigh on canaryseed as well.
Roughly a third of the canaryseed crop has been harvested so far, according to crop updates from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. Hursh said canaryseed is usually one of the last crops to come off, as it can handle the cool, wet fall conditions reasonably well.
Canaryseed is often grown as a speculative crop, and producers with bin space can hold it for years until they see the price they want. While Hursh expected there would be some of that storing this year, he said the lower prices were a sign that the market was getting enough to meet its needs for the time being.
Even at these lower values, he added, canaryseed prices still represent better returns than other crop options in the area, such as durum.
A canaryseed merchant said there was some buying interest from end users recently, but the market was still unsettled overall, keeping prices under pressure.
