Canada’s pulse crop industry organization will now publish feed pea benchmark prices for Western Canada to give buyers and seller a pricing reference.
The benchmark prices that Winnipeg-based Pulse Canada will offer are generated from a standardized least-cost feed formulation for swine, which is “typical of what major hog producers in Western Canada currently use,” the organization said in a release Monday.
The benchmark prices each week will provide an “unbiased estimate” of the intrinsic feeding value of dry peas in central Alberta (Red Deer and area), central Saskatchewan (Saskatoon and area) and southern Manitoba (Winnipeg and area), Pulse Canada said.
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“Pricing comparisons for feed peas have often been lacking in Western Canada,” said Jeff Bond, director of Pulse Canada’s Feed Pea Network, in Monday’s release. “These feed pea benchmark prices are a transparent, unbiased and reliable pricing reference for the industry.”
Hog rations are used to get the benchmark figure, as most of the peas fed in Western Canada end up in swine diets, Pulse Canada said. The benchmark price represents the price at which peas start to become an “economically feasible” feed ingredient for hog producers to include in their animals’ diets.
“These feed pea benchmark prices are intended to be used as a pricing reference calculated in a consistent manner weekly to enhance the price discovery process,” Bond said. The benchmark value may be higher or lower than farm gate values, similar to a basis value.
Differences in value may be related to factors including pea quality, storage costs or the ease with which products can be substituted. A benchmark can “assist buyers and sellers in arriving at a fair price, representative of the intrinsic value of the product,” Bond said.
The benchmark price formulation will be reviewed annually by the Feed Pea Network to ensure it is representative of current feed formulation methodologies, Pulse Canada said.
The least-cost feed formulation used to work out the benchmark prices was developed in consultation with the Prairie Swine Centre and the Feed Pea Network, a body set up by Pulse Canada as a formal network connecting pulse producers, traders, livestock producers, the feed industry and crop researchers.
Pulse Canada said Monday it will hosting an internet-based seminar on March 25 at 1 p.m. CST to discuss the new benchmark and the benefits to both buyers and sellers of feed peas in Western Canada. More details are to be made available on the organization’s website.
