CNS Canada — Prices for feed-grade barley, corn and wheat have shifted slightly over the last week in Western Canada: wheat and barley prices have weakened, while corn prices are on the rise.

Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities at Lethbridge said feed barley is currently in the mid-$250s range, per tonne. Last week, feed barley was in the high $250s.

Wheat is in the low $250s per tonne, down from the mid-$250s, and corn is in the mid-$260s per tonne, up from the low $260s last week.

Corn imports from the U.S. are continuing, Pirness said. “I don’t think that is a lot of new purchases, but existing sales that are being executed right now.”

Other than price changes, he said, there isn’t a lot of trading going on with “a lot of coverage forward.”

Good weather continues to help operations in Lethbridge’s Feedlot Alley, Pirness said.

“Given the weather we are having this year, the feed conversions are fairly good. The pens have been relatively dry and the weather hasn’t been too cold here for longer stretches,” he said.

Feedlots remain quite full, he added.

“Typically the fall-placed yearlings will finish here (in) February-March.”

— Glen Hallick writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Includes files from Ashley Robinson of CNS Canada.