As government gets out of the market analysis business, private companies are hanging out shingles for services that go beyond weekly market reports.
The latest of these information services is ProMarket Communications in Calgary.
John Dale and Errol Anderson, formerly of Palliser Commodities, started the company that provides a synopsis as well as interpretation of market trends on grains and livestock.
Canada doesn’t have many market analysts and it is difficult to convince farmers this is a service they should pay for, said Anderson.
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“It’s always been government that had that domain and it’s always been free,” he said.
But the government is serving as a record keeper rather than a markets information source.
Anderson said he thinks it should also work as an educator so people using private services can follow the markets.
There are three types of market services: raw data, the ability to transfer that data into information and a service translating information into knowledge.
Few services want to take the third step because it is risky, Anderson said.
Services like Globalink and Data Transmission Network provide information but don’t necessarily translate it into knowledge. Now companies are emerging that are willing to do that.
For example, ProFarmer USA from Cedar Falls, Iowa, one of the premier farm and market information services in the United States, is considering expansion into Canada.
Anderson is a trader of futures and options and talks daily with traders, buyers, feedlot operators and other clients to collect direct market information.
His company plans to start trading full time as soon as approval is received from Alberta Securities.
ProMarket is linked to Linnco Futures Group, of Chicago, which has branches in Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary.
It will also be connected with AgraLink, a new electronic grain trading system. Both services will expand to satellite and internet connections by July. AgraLink started a pilot with 16 Alberta feedlots in April.
Sheldon Fulton, chief executive officer of AgraLink, said the service gives spot market prices but doesn’t sell futures contracts like the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.
