Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm— Canadian purchases of corn from the United States are off to a slow start in the 2024-25 marketing year, with ample old crop barley supplies likely limiting demand.
Weekly export sales data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed fresh sales of corn to Canada of only 1,400 tonnes during the week ended Sept. 12, with total outstanding commitments for the 2024-25 marketing that began Sept. 1 of 56,900 tonnes. That’s well below the 721,100 tonnes already on the books two weeks into the 2023-24 marketing year.
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Canada imported just over one million tonnes of corn from the U.S. in the marketing year ended Aug. 31. That was up from 651,000 tonnes the previous year, but still well short of the record 3.7 million tonnes seen in 2021-22 after a drought cut into domestic feed supplies.
Canada’s barley production in 2024-25 is forecast to be down by 1.3 million tonnes on the year, at 7.6 million tonnes, according to Statistics Canada data. However, old crop carry-in supplies of 1.2 million tonnes were up by 72 per cent from the same point in 2023 and the largest in six years. As a result, total barley supplies should only be down slightly.
Feed barley into the key Lethbridge feeding area was priced at C$265 to C$272 per tonne area in early September, according to the Alberta government’s weekly market review. That was up slightly from the previous week and compared with delivered corn prices of C$288 per tonne.
