Glacier FarmMedia — Feed barley prices appear to have “stabilized”, said an Edmonton-based analyst.
Susanne Leclerc, owner of Market Master Ltd., said demand for feed grains is reduced at harvest season. Prices usually come down, but barley has stayed put over the past week due to the variation in bids amongst buyers.
“If you shop around, it seems to have stabilized. If you’re not, it’s down. It’s so hard to say that it’s down or up because the variation is so huge. We’re seeing a 40-cent (per bushel) spread amongst buyers in the same market,” Leclerc said.
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She also noted the average feed barley price in Lethbridge, Alta. was C$255 to C$260 per tonne. Buyers are also tending to purchase grain from more local areas rather than grain that is shipped into an area like United States feed corn, Leclerc added.
Temperatures surpassing 30 degrees Celsius in Alberta over the past two weeks allowed producers to make plenty of harvest progress.
“We’ve finally got a warm week and people are managing to get through crops very well,” she said.
Alberta’s barley harvest was at 69.1 per cent as of Aug. 26 according to the province’s weekly crop report. Leclerc said it is beginning to slow down and producers are moving on to combine other crops.
Delivered bids of Alberta feed barley ranged from C$4.50 to C$5.94 per bushel, down 48 cents from the month before as of Sept. 3, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. In Saskatchewan, the range was C$4.50 to C$4.75/bu., down 50 cents. In Manitoba, only a bid of C$4.45/bu. was reported, down 52 cents.
For feed wheat, Alberta delivered bids were C$5.72 to C$7.35/bu., down 82 cents from one month earlier. In Manitoba, bids ranged from C$6.38 to C$7/bu., up 33 cents. In Saskatchewan, a bid of C$6.88/bu. was reported, down 68 cents.
