There’s beginning to be a shift within the Canadian Prairie feed market towards importing United States corn, said Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge.
A severe winter storm in the United States and a weakened greenback helped raise prices on the Chicago Board of Trade during the week ended Jan. 28, 2026.
Chicago grain and oilseed futures rose on Friday as severe cold in U.S. and other areas of the world raised fears about damage to crops and disruptions to processing plants.
Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade moved off nearby lows during the week ended Jan. 21, as solid export sales and talk of movement on biofuel blending requirements in the United States provided support. However, the advancing South American harvest may limit further gains.
U.S. corn futures rose more than one per cent on Friday, paring some of this week’s steep declines, as exporters and domestic users stepped in to buy cash-market grain at discounted prices, analysts said.
Confirmation of a record-large corn crop in the United States should keep feed grain bids in Western Canada under pressure in the near term, as the domestic market works to remain competitive.
Corn ending stocks in the United States for 2025/26 will be much larger than earlier expectations, according to updated supply/demand tables from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tom Lilja, an analyst from Progressive Ag in Fargo, N.D., expects corn and soybeans yields to be trimmed ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply/demand estimates release on Jan. 12, 2026.