CNS Canada — Canadian wheat and durum exports are running well behind the year-ago pace, despite the country’s larger production.
Canadian wheat exports during the crop-year-to-date of 6.56 million tonnes compare with 8.12 million at the same point a year ago and the five-year average for week 25 of the crop year of 7.28 million, according to the latest Canadian Grain Commission data.
Total durum exports, as of Sunday, of 1.88 million tonnes, are also down from the 2.21 million shipped during the same time frame in 2015-16 and the five-year average of 2.19 million.
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Producer deliveries of wheat are running behind the year-ago pace as well. Wheat deliveries into the commercial pipeline, of 8.31 million tonnes, are about 1.2 million tonnes behind what farmers had moved by the same point in 2015-16.
The slow exports and producer deliveries come despite a rather large wheat crop, with total wheat production (including durum) in 2016-17 of 31.73 million tonnes, according to Statistics Canada data. That’s about four million tonnes above what was grown the previous year.
However, the grain companies are still keeping busy handling other commodities. Total producer deliveries of all crops are running about a million tonnes ahead of the year-ago pace, with 28.86 million tonnes delivered to date. Canola and pea deliveries are especially strong.
Exports of peas and canola are both running well ahead of the levels seen in 2015-16, helping account for some of the lost wheat handle.
Total exports of all crops, at 20.64 million tonnes as of Sunday, are only about 500,000 tonnes behind what was moved during the same period the previous year.
— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.
