Wheat bids in Western Canada were largely down for the week ended Feb. 1 as the Canadian dollar made gains on the week.
Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were down $2-$3, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes). Average prices ranged from about $250 per tonne in western Manitoba to as high as $271 in southern Alberta.
Quoted basis levels varied from location to location and ranged from $38 to $58 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between U.S. dollar-denominated futures and Canadian dollar cash bids.
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When accounting for currency exchange rates by adjusting Canadian prices to U.S. dollars, CWRS bids ranged from US$191 to US$207 per tonne. That would put the currency-adjusted basis levels at about US$6-$22 below the futures.
Looking at it the other way around, if the Minneapolis futures are converted to Canadian dollars, CWRS basis levels across Western Canada range from $8 to $29 below the futures.
Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat bids were weaker, decreasing by around $3 per tonne. Prices ranged from $223 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to $247 per tonne in southern Alberta.
Average durum prices were up, with bids ranging anywhere from $228 per tonne in northwestern Saskatchewan to $239 per tonne in western Manitoba.
The March spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, off of which most CWRS contracts Canada are based, was quoted Feb. 1 at US$5.755 per bushel, up by three-quarters of a U.S. cent from the previous week.
Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPSR in Canada. The March K.C. wheat contract was quoted Feb. 1 at US$5.0875 per bushel, down by three-quarters of a U.S. cent from the previous week.
The March Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat contract settled at US$5.2425 per bushel on Feb. 1, up 4.25 U.S. cents on the week.
The Canadian dollar rose to 76.37 U.S. cents, an increase of almost a cent on the week.
