Canada’s biggest grain handler, Viterra, is buying grains in the cash and futures market because it sees the recent slide as unsustainable, CEO Mayo Schmidt said Wednesday.
Chicago May wheat futures have dropped 18 percent, while ICE Futures Canada canola futures have lost nine per cent since March 2 as first Middle East unrest and more recently the Japan earthquake rattled investors.
Schmidt told the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago that the lower prices are not sustainable given the shortage of key crops.
“As we get to these lower levels, we’re buyers,” he said. “We believe it’s not sustainable to have these lower prices and send the signals to the farmers to adjust their planting (for) crops that are already in tight supply.”
