A European malting barley futures contract is about to be born, but potential North American users don’t plan much of a baby shower. Some players in the grain industry are skeptical the European contract will work, few think the European contract will be useful for nonEuropean users and there appears to be little interest in […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Farmers must step up and start using feed barley contract
It’s almost use-it-or-lose-it time for the Winnipeg feed barley futures contract. The ICE Futures Canada exchange says it’s committed to keeping the contract, and many farmers, feeders and grain companies say they want the contract to continue. However, a contract lives and breathes in the air of trading, and there are many days when this […] Read more
Exploding mountains, inappropriate snowball fights, and the markets
Remember when Mount Pinatubo blew up? I watched it on TV news back in June 1991. That explosion turned out badly for many in the Philippines. And, I believe, it turned out badly for prairie farmers a few months later. I remember working at the Lloydminster Times newspaper in August 1992, where it was oddly […] Read more
Canada Grains Council getting choked up
The Canadian grain industry is getting all choked up – by a legion of trade barriers. At a session this morning at the Canada Grains Council’s 41st annual meeting here in Winnipeg the bewildering number of trade blockages facing Canadian crops was made pretty obvious by a panel of commodity representatives: 1) Canola’s still mostly […] Read more
No canola trials this year
Some canola developers have boycotted farmer-supported variety trials, causing the Canola Council of Canada to shut down this year’s trials for all varieties. It’s a company boycott that has left grower groups outraged and worried about losing public access to head-to-head comparisons of varieties. “I’m disappointed,” said Ernie Sirski, a Manitoba Canola Growers Association executive […] Read more
Will canola growers paint the West yellow?
You might expect canola acres to shoot through the roof and cereal acres to fall through the floor this spring, given their prices, but analysts say a host of factors could hold farmers back from pushing acreage too far in any direction. They say canola acres might be fewer than predicted in the Statistics Canada […] Read more
Bigger production and demand change definition of burdensome stocks
China has shut its door and the canola carryout is likely to be big by historical standards, but that’s no reason to worry, say analysts. Demand for the oilseed is strong, if quiet, and the historical standard for stocks belongs in the past. “Maybe a million and a half tonnes is what we would view […] Read more
ICE Canada has faith in barley contract
There is no shortage of feedgrains in Western Canada. That’s the factor behind the near absence of trade in Winnipeg’s feed barley futures contract, the head of ICE Futures Canada said. “Unfortunately, what we need is a little bit of risk out there,” said exchange chief executive officer Brad Vannan. “One of the functions of […] Read more
What spring rally?
Spring is the time when the green shoots appear, six months of frozen dog poop melt down into a single layer of filth, roads go soft and people in downtown Winnipeg start lining up on the street for hot dogs at carts. It’s also the traditional time for a rally in the crop markets, as […] Read more
Linkage non-stinkage
Here’s a positive view on grain prices from an analyst I was talking with this morning: “A lot of these grains have bottomed,” Errol Anderson of ProMarket Communications told me. Referring to the crop prices charts that show a long flat period until now, he said: “That’s a bottom.” If he’s right, that’ll make a […] Read more
