MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices on the Prairies remain soft ahead of spring planting, due to quiet demand from feedlots.
“Feedlots are full of grain right now,” Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. said, explaining that there’s currently a lot of grain in feeding pipelines.
“Spring replacement into feedlots has been really slow.”
Barley fields that were left over winter will be harvested come spring, but quality issues are expected.
“We need the sun to shine and snow to melt and everything to run smoothly in order to not see any major swings in values,” he said.
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“There’s still a lot of weather to happen before the crop goes in the ground, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Low cattle futures, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus’ widespread impact on financial markets, have also weighed on feed grain prices. However, “the cattle have to eat,” Motz said.
“There aren’t a lot of options there.”
Feed barley prices delivered in Lethbridge are currently between $225 and $228 per tonne, with feed wheat prices following suit.
— Marlo Glass reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
