WINNIPEG (Reuters) – Canadian stocks of wheat, barley, canola and oats were smaller Dec. 31 than the year before, Statistics Canada reported.
Stocks of all wheat in grain bins and country elevators totalled 21.685 million tonnes on the last day of 2009, down 1.5 percent from a year earlier. Barley stocks shrunk 11.1 percent to 7.553 million tonnes.
The barley number was unexpected, one million tonnes less than traders’ average estimate in a Reuters News Service pre-report poll.
Farmers may have fed more barley to livestock than expected because the wheat harvest was of high quality, leaving less feed wheat, said Bruce Burnett, Canadian Wheat Board’s director of weather and market analysis.
The report may support cash barley prices but will have no effect on the world market, Burnett said.
Year end stock totals
* Durum: 16.5 percent bigger at 5.582 million tonnes
* Canola: 8.762 million tonnes
* Oats: 2.838 million tonnes
* Peas: 2,745 million tonnes, up 7.6 percent.
* Flax: 843,000 tonnes, up 40.5 percent because of export problems.
* Lentils: 772,000, up 22.7 percent.
* Mustard: 200,000 tonnes, up 72.4 percent.
