MarketsFarm — Seasonal harvest pressure is already weighing on the Canadian feed barley market, with most end users covered for the time being and waiting for the new crop.

“We’re seeing buyers fill up” on barley, said Susanne Leclerc of Market Master in Edmonton.

Bids were dropping on a daily basis from those still in the market as they anticipate new crop deliveries, she said.

Feed barley into the key Lethbridge cattle feeding area was trading at $240 per tonne on July 28, but dropped to roughly $218 per tonne by Thursday “if you can even find the space,” said Leclerc.

She said feed wheat bids were also down, but not to the same extent as the market is still waiting to see the quality of this year’s wheat crop.

While a seasonal drop in feed grain prices is typical at this time of year, Leclerc said the latest drop was quicker than expected as buyers were better covered heading into the harvest than they were a year ago.

Weakness in the U.S. corn market is also keeping some pressure on Canadian grain prices, although Leclerc said there still wasn’t much coming across the border due to the ample availability of local grain.

While some pockets of Alberta were rained out and dealing with poor crop conditions, the general outlook was for large crops overall.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.