MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices in Western Canada are showing the usual seasonal weakness as spring seeding continues, but prices are set to fall further.
“I think as we get going, (prices) are going to lower down quite a bit,” Mike Fleischhauer of Eagle Commodities Ltd. at Lethbridge said. “The corn market over the next six months is going to go down 20 to 25 per cent. That will pull back the feed wheat and barley, for sure.”
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Despite the warmer weather, corn from the United States is still arriving at feedlots “in droves” according to Fleischhauer.
“(Corn’s) price is quite a bit cheaper than feed wheat and feed barley. They have enough right now to get into new crop and then we’ll see where it goes from there,” he said.
Fleischhauer has seen corn bids at $365 per tonne ($9.27 per bushel), as well as bids for feed barley at anywhere between $390-$395/tonne ($8.49-$8.60/bu.). However, there are other factors which will affect pricing, including weather.
“It all depends too on what we have coming for weather,” he said. “For the most part, southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan has been getting some timely moisture. I know central Alberta and central Saskatchewan’s a little bit different but they’ve just finished up seeding over the last 10 days. Hopefully, they can get some timely rains up there, as well.”
The high-delivered bid for feed barley in Alberta as of Wednesday was $9.04/bu., 11 cents less than last month, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. In Saskatchewan, the high-delivered bid was unchanged from last month at $7.75/bu., while in Manitoba, it was 37 cents lower than one month ago at $6.88/bu.
For feed wheat, the high-delivered bid in Alberta was $11.43/bu., down 14 cents from last month. In Saskatchewan, it was $10/bu. (down 75 cents) and in Manitoba, the high-delivered bid was $9.71/bu. (down 21 cents).
— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.
