MarketsFarm — Days after a work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) came to an abrupt end, prices for corn have been relatively stable, according to one trader.
Mike Fleischhauer of Eagle Commodities Ltd. in Lethbridge said there has been little price movement for the feed grain staple recently as most feedlots are already set for grain for the next few months. Workers at CP agreed March 22 to pursue final and binding arbitration with the railway.
Corn prices “went up a little bit. There’s not a lot moving,” he said. “But the rail (stoppage) ending quickly definitely helped. They’re kind of up-and-down a little bit. Right now, (corn is) at $464 per tonne ($11.79 per bushel).”
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By comparison, the high-delivered bid for feed barley in Alberta is $9.80/bu., while feed wheat in Alberta traded as high as $13.88/bu., according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. Fleischhauer added there is not enough volume for both barley and wheat to make feedlots switch from corn.
Rising fuel costs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are having very little effect on corn prices, he added, but the lack of snow cover in areas of southern Alberta does not bode well for this year’s grain crop. According to Fleischhauer, some growers are already concerned.
“You get guys that are already starting to scratch a little bit in the fields already,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot of moisture this year in the south…We’ll just have to wait and see what transpires here over the next couple of weeks and see what we have for melt. A slow melt would be great for the (Prairie) provinces as opposed to a quick melt and everything getting dry again.
“Two droughts in two years will keep the markets up for sure,” he added.
— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.
