Harakal pointed to the ongoing imports of corn from the United States, as it’s cheaper than domestic feed barley or wheat.

“The biggest thing is they have corn contracts all the way up to spring,” she commented.

Another factor she cited was the mild fall/early winter the Canadian Prairies have been experiencing, noting the feedlots don’t have to provide as much in rations for the cattle, thus reducing demand.

Harakal quoted C$305 to C$310 per tonne for December delivery for feed barley going into Lethbridge. Those prices nudged up to C$310 to C$315/tonne for January-February delivery into feedlot alley.

Prices for feed barley for the week ended Dec. 13 were steady to lower, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. Alberta saw the largest decline, down 33 cents per bushel at C$5.32 to C$7.08/bu. delivered. In Manitoba, prices eased back seven cents at C$5.75 to C$5.84/bu., while they held firm in Saskatchewan at C$5.50 to C$5.75/bu.

It’s a similar story for feed wheat, with a decline of 27 cents in Alberta at C$6.80 to C$9.39/bu. delivered, and down 12 cents in Manitoba at C$7.82/bu. Meanwhile prices were unchanged in Saskatchewan at C$6.80 to C$8.88/bu.

The post Feed weekly outlook: U.S. corn imports keep lid on Prairie feed grains  appeared first on Farmtario.

“I think we’re in that lull time right now between corn and barley (deliveries) as the (U.S.) corn harvest is underway,” Leclerc said, adding that demand is steady until more corn deliveries arrive at feedlots.

“There is an opportunity for people right now to see a late bump in barley prices, but there’s an opportunity to sell and have some movement on barley until we see more corn come in.”

She also said that not only is harvest pressure contributing to price declines, but so is a lack of international export partners due to ongoing geopolitical events.

With barley and wheat harvests mostly or entirely complete in Western Canada, Leclerc still believes there is a chance for feed grain prices to fall further.

“We’re seeing more of a bump in (barley) over the past two weeks than we have in a while. But I think we see more opportunity for it to come down based on the fact that we’ll see more corn in November. But it’s a real unknown as we don’t know how everything’s going to progress internationally when everything’s so wild.

“With harvest going on down there and everything else that’s going on right now, I really don’t think anyone can predict that.”

As of Tuesday, delivered feed barley bids in Alberta ranged from $5.75 to $7.51 per bushel, down 43 cents from last month and down $1.63 from last year, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. In Saskatchewan, bids ranged from $5.50 to $5.80/bu., down 20 cents from a month ago and down 95 cents from one year ago. In Manitoba, the bids were from $5.25 to $5.92/bu., 36 cents lower than last month and $1.33 lower than last year.

For feed wheat, delivered bids in Alberta ranged from $7.76 to $9.80/bu., 68 cents lower than last month and C$2.31 lower than last year. In Saskatchewan, bids were from $8-$8.88/bu., down 23 cents from last month and down $2.88 from last year. In Manitoba, the high-delivered bid was $8.33/bu., 20 cents lower than a month ago and $2.51 lower than a year ago.

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post Feed weekly outlook: Demand for feed grains ‘in a lull’ appeared first on Farmtario.

Despite modest price increases over the past month, some western Canadian oat bids are less than half of what they were last year. In Alberta, the high-delivered bid for oats as of Tuesday was $5.32 per bushel, down $3.55 from last year, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. In Saskatchewan, the high-delivered bid was $4.13/bu., a decrease of $4.94 from one year ago. In Manitoba, the high-delivered bid was $5/bu., lower than the $10.15/bu. reported in January 2022.

On the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the March oat contract fell to US$3.2725/bu. on Dec. 8, the lowest price recorded since Dec. 7, 2020. On Apr. 11, 2022, the contract hit an all-time high of US$8.11/bu., preceding a 60 per cent drop in value over an eight-month span. Prices have stayed below its 100-day moving average since late June.

Ryan McKnight of Linear Grain Inc. at Carman, Man. attributed the price collapse to more acres, higher yields and therefore greater production. But he added that those who already have purchased oats have no interest in buying more.

“We’re seeing Manitoba farmers looking for ($5/bu.), Saskatchewan farmers looking for ($4.50-$5/bu.). If it’s compared to where the futures are, Canadian offers are extremely high from a basis standpoint,” McKnight said. “We have end users who are choking on high-priced oat contracts and inventory. They are quite slow to buy any additional (crop) over the past month or two.”

The Prairies accounted for 91 per cent of Canada’s oat production for the 2022-23 marketing year with the three provinces totalling 4.79 million tonnes with a 15-year high seeded area of 3.53 million acres, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan). Last year, from 3.22 million acres on the Prairies, only 2.39 million tonnes of oats were produced largely due to severe drought.

Scott Shiels, grain procurement manager at Grain Millers Inc. at Yorkton, Sask., said oats are in an oversold position as the supply-demand balance has favoured the former over the past four months. However, he added that demand for oats is “tremendously strong.”

“In the overall picture (with) people talking about a recession, looking for cheaper food ingredients, oats fit that bill as well as being a really healthy alternative to a lot of foods. Over the last decade, oats have been known to be a ‘superfood’,” Shiels added.

Paterson GlobalFoods (PGF) will open its new oat mill, O Foods, at the CentrePort Canada industrial port in northwest Winnipeg later this year. Last week, Swedish food company Oatly announced it sold part of its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. to Canadian food company Ya YA Foods Corp. Shiels believes these two developments will give a boost to demand.

“For us at Grain Millers, it has been a steady growth over the past 20 years and we’re not looking to slow that down any time soon,” he said.

However, lower oat prices could eventually turn into fewer growers considering the crop for seeding this spring.

“The expectation is for acreage to come down. The carryover is looking to be close to one million tonnes. If the carryover is down, we’ll likely be in a comfortable position with average yields,” McKnight said. “I ran some numbers recently with $5.50/bu. new-crop oats and $11/bu. new-crop wheat and oats were still good because wheat is slightly more expensive to grow. At the current price spread, it seemed OK.

“I see a lot of oats being offered out by farmers. The pricing is not what they’re looking for at the moment.”

Both McKnight and Shiels do not anticipate much price movement in the early parts of 2023, while also predicting that new crop in 2023 will be priced higher.

As for current prices, Shiels is cautious.

“It’s a concern, but it’s not keeping me awake at night… yet,” he said.

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

The post Oats face an uncertain year appeared first on Farmtario.

ADM and Cargill, the two major U.S.-based agribusinesses that set up GrainBridge in 2019, announced Tuesday they’ve sold it to Bushel, a Fargo, N.D.-based ag software and service provider that plans to gradually transition GrainBridge over to its own platform.

GrainBridge has billed itself as “the best place on the web to view bids and your contracts from ADM and Cargill,” allowing growers to “stay on top of bids… sign up and link your accounts… (and) access and export your contracts, scale tickets, and settlement data.”

On GrainBridge — which also now handles services previously run through the ADM FarmView system — growers are able to toggle between best price and nearest location when viewing bids on the system dashboard, and can also get notifications for local cash bids and basis and set multiple price targets per delivery period or per location.

At the field level, the companies said, bringing GrainBridge onto Bushel is expected to lead to “increased grower profitability… through more data-driven decision-making. Bushel’s data insights capabilities will help educate grain buyers and sellers about forecasted trends and best practices related to grain marketing.”

Bushel said its platform also offers “increased visibility for food processors sourcing for specific traits such as higher protein or oil content within their customer base” as well as a “grain passport” verification system for end-users such as consumer packaged goods firms to help meet sustainability targets.

“Bringing GrainBridge and Bushel together will give farmers a path to new features and functionality, including existing staples like the ability to see local cash bids and account information,” Doug Roose, ADM’s vice-president for producer marketing, said in a release Tuesday.

“ADM and Cargill came together with GrainBridge to better understand the digital grain marketing landscape,” Jeff Klock, Cargill’s global digital strategy leader, said in the same release. “This next step of bringing GrainBridge together with Bushel will provide better outcomes for farmers by improving their grain marketing and selling practices.”

Cargill, which is already also set up on the Bushel platform, and ADM will be among over 200 local ag co-ops, processors, feed millers and ethanol and other biofuel companies using the Bushel system.

Bushel, on its website, said almost 2,000 grain handling facilities across both the U.S. and Canada already use its products daily. Its users include firms such as The Andersons and Scoular, who are among the charter members of Roger, a dry bulk freight management platform also operating on Bushel.

In all, the companies said, “the acquisition will further connect the grain industry creating a network effect for more than 40 per cent of the grain origination in the U.S. and Canada.”

Merging GrainBridge into Bushel “will continue to maintain the standard of permission-based control within the sharing of data,” the companies said, and growers and grain buyers “will maintain control over when and how their data will be shared throughout the supply chain.”

“The collaboration of the grain industry behind Bushel will lead to faster standardization, which leads to faster innovation,” Bushel CEO Jake Joraanstad said in the same release. “Adding the GrainBridge team members to Bushel gives us stronger data science capabilities to provide even better insights from our expanded network.” –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Cargill, ADM sell GrainBridge to ag software firm Bushel appeared first on Farmtario.

That said, tight supplies and uncertainty over new-crop grain production remain supportive.

“With the move on the futures market this week… it might be the first cracks of any significance we’ve seen in this market,” said Jim Beusekom of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge.

Chicago Board of Trade corn and wheat futures have both posted large losses, with corn backing away from multi-year highs after a bearish reaction to the latest supply/demand estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The underlying futures market is down, so we would expect the cash market to follow,” Beusekom said, adding that the drop in futures was already showing up in the cash market with feed barley and wheat bids coming off of their highs.

However, feedlots are generally well covered for the time being, with most of their attention shifting to the new crop which will be harvested in 70-80 days.

Dryness concerns across much of the Prairies will keep all eyes on moisture conditions over the next two months.

“We’re in a weather market,” said Beusekom. A meaningful rain, especially in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, would change the situation, he added.

While most old-crop barley is already priced, “it will take a general rain across the Prairies before farmers move the last of their inventories.”

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post Feed weekly outlook: Falling futures suggest first cracks in lofty market appeared first on Farmtario.

“Steady at harvest time is good,” said Scott Shiels, grain procurement merchant with Grain Millers in Yorkton.

Prices often dip at harvest time due to increased deliveries, he noted, but solid demand has kept the market where it was prior to the harvest this year.

Oats bids are generally topping out at around $3 per bushel in Saskatchewan, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire data. Prices are slightly higher in both Manitoba and Alberta.

“The quality of the crop that’s come in so far has been good,” Shiels said, though he added that yields didn’t quite live up to earlier expectations.

“I think the crop looked better than it’s actually running,” he said, adding that “the late July, early August heat just took some bushels… the plant is still there, but the heads didn’t fill.”

While anecdotal harvest reports are usually wide-ranging, Shiels said most of the talk this year was of yields coming in below expectations. “It’s not a bin buster by any means.”

Statistics Canada estimates total oats production in the country for 2020-21 at 4.5 million tonnes, which would be up from the 4.2 million grown in 2019-20.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post Oats values hold steady at harvest appeared first on Farmtario.

Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were down $5.50-$10 per tonne, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes). Average prices ranged from about $224.50 per tonne in northeastern Saskatchewan to as high as $243.50 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Quoted basis levels varied from location to location and ranged from $29 to $48.50 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between U.S. dollar-denominated futures and Canadian dollar cash bids.

When accounting for currency exchange rates by adjusting everything into Canadian dollars. CWRS basis levels ranged from $15.50 to $25.50 below the futures.

Bids for CPSR wheat also lower, losing $7-$12.50 per tonne. Prices ranged from $198 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to $218 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Average durum prices were narrowly mixed, up 50 cents to down $2 per tonne, with bids ranging anywhere from $277.50 to $295.50 per tonne.

The May spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, off of which most CWRS contracts Canada are based, was quoted Thursday at US$5.3125 per bushel, up 11.25 cents from the previous week.

Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPSR in Canada. The May K.C. wheat contract was quoted Thursday at US$4.8725 per bushel, up 21.75 cents compared to the previous week.

The May Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat contract settled Thursday at US$5.695 per bushel, up 34 cents on the week.

The Canadian dollar closed Thursday at 71.04 U.S. cents, up roughly two cents compared to the previous week.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post Prairie cash wheat: Rising loonie cuts into bids appeared first on Farmtario.

A lack of willing sellers is keeping pulse bids underpinned in Western Canada, according to broker Dale McManus of Johnston’s Grain at Welwyn, Sask.

“If producers don’t feel that they’re being paid what they need to be paid, then they leave it in the bin,” he said.

“Things are slowly moving, but they’re not moving at any high rate of speed,” he added, noting people are wary of signing contracts for things not moving as fast as they should be.

From a logistical standpoint, McManus didn’t think COVID-19 social distancing measures had slowed movement too much yet — with the backlog at the ports from earlier in the winter slowly rectifying itself. However, the unprecedented nature of the situation could lead to eventual shutdowns.

Seasonal road bans are also coming into effect, adding another layer to logistical challenges.

Looking ahead to the 2020 crop, McManus noted many farmers will still need to finish the 2019 harvest before seeding, which may push back some spring field work.

However, if conditions allowed, McManus agreed with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s prediction for steady pea and lentil acres in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Reports of pulse shortages in India were also being followed closely in the Canadian industry, but McManus noted it remains to be seen how that may translate into Canadian prices.

Green peas are currently trading around $10.50 per bushel in Western Canada, while yellow peas are at about $6.25, according to McManus. He placed lentil bids in the “low-20s” cents/lb.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

The post Pulse weekly outlook: Lack of willing sellers underpins prices appeared first on Farmtario.

Bids for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) were steady to higher.

The Canadian dollar was down by approximately four-10ths of a cent during the week, which provided support and countered the pressure from declines in the United States wheat markets.

Average CWRS (13.5 per cent) wheat prices were higher by $3-$5 per tonne, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes). Average prices ranged from about $225 per tonne in northeastern Saskatchewan up to $249 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Quoted basis levels varied from location to location and ranged from $30 to $46 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between U.S. dollar-denominated futures and Canadian dollar cash bids.

When accounting for currency exchange rates by adjusting Canadian prices to U.S. dollars, CWRS bids ranged from US$170 to US$182 per tonne. That would put the currency-adjusted basis levels at about US$13-$26 below the futures.

Looking at it the other way around, if the Minneapolis futures are converted to Canadian dollars, CWRS basis levels across Western Canada range from $10 to $20 below the futures.

Bids for CPSR wheat were up $2-$3 per tonne. Prices ranged from $195 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to $215 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Average durum prices were steady to up $1, with bids ranging from $263 per tonne in southwestern Saskatchewan to $282 per tonne in western Manitoba.

The March spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, off of which most CWRS contracts in Canada are based, was quoted Thursday at US$5.325 per bushel, down four cents from the previous week.

Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPSR in Canada. The March K.C. wheat contract was quoted Thursday at US$4.6775 per bushel, down 3.25 cents compared to the previous week.

The March Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat contract settled Thursday at US$5.5625 per bushel, down 4.25 cents on the week.

The Canadian dollar closed Thursday at 75.24 U.S. cents, down 0.42 of a cent from the previous week.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

The post Prairie cash wheat: Lower loonie strengthens bids appeared first on Farmtario.

For seven straight trading sessions, canola bids have climbed, from $445.60 per tonne at the close of trading on Sept. 27 to $464.80 on Tuesday.

“Soybean prices which had been on the move higher, to three month highs, have been lending support,” Jubinville said, adding that other vegetable oils in general have been on the upswing.

Canola busted out of its summer-long sideways trading range, he said, and that included busting above its upper resistance of $450-$455 per tonne for the November contract.

But there is a limit, which Jubinville said is tough to gauge.

“My gut feeling is there will be eventually a near-term supply of canola that comes out from the farmer when some targets are hit,” he said.

One such target will be when cash bids exceed $10 per bushel, he said.

Another factor has been the federal government’s cash advance program, which was altered to help farmers hurt by China’s ban on Canadian canola exports.

“There’s a sense that growers, if they’re feeling bullish-minded, may hold supply back from the marketplace and use that cash advance program on canola, [partly to help] deal with near-term cash flow issues,” Jubinville said.

With September being one of the wettest on record on the Prairies, especially in Manitoba, there have been concerns about the crop’s quality.

Jubinville said hopes for the new crop are very likely to be diminished as a late-maturing crop now has to contend with wet conditions and freezing temperatures.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

The post ICE weekly outlook: More than weather behind canola uptrend appeared first on Farmtario.