Markets
This cattle market information is selected from the weekly report from Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. More market information, analysis and statistics are available by becoming a Canfax subscriber by calling 403-275-5110 or at www.canfax.ca. Fed steer price firms Alberta direct cattle sales saw moderate volume trade last week, with weighted average […] Read more
Markets
Canfax report
Ag lender predicts profitable crop year
Canada’s leading farm lender is forecasting another good year for farmers in 2023. Farm cash receipts are expected to increase by 4.6 percent to $98.8 billion, according to Farm Credit Canada. The rate of growth will be down from last year’s 14.1 percent, but is still a healthy increase. Saskatchewan will lead the way with […] Read more
Speculators distort wheat markets, suppressing prices
The stubbornly bearish wheat market is overdue for a correction, says an analyst. Speculators are keeping prices depressed with their short positions, but they should pay attention to what the commercials are doing, which is going long, says DTN lead analyst Todd Hultman. The United States Department of Agriculture reported 1.28 billion bushels of U.S. […] Read more
Oats take a hit in first 2023-24 crop estimate
Agriculture Canada released its first crop projections for 2023-24, forecasting a very notable drop in oats. In the department’s January supply and demand estimates, released today, it cut oat production by almost 31 percent at 3.611 million tonnes when compared to 2022-23. The department chopped the carryout for oats by nearly 48 percent at 600,000 […] Read more
Drought may lift feedgrains
The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to make downward adjustments to its estimates of South American corn production — a factor that should bode well for feed barley prices in Western Canada. In a Jan. 12 bulletin, the USDA reduced its estimate for total Brazilian corn production in the 2022-23 marketing year by one million […] Read more
Wheat demand continues to increase
The global appetite for wheat has been on a steady upward trend for the past two decades or so. That, combined with the war in Ukraine and dry conditions affecting production in some major wheat exporting nations, should set the table for continued support of global wheat prices. “We’ve had this situation where (global) production […] Read more
China, Russia affect pulse crop outlook
Chinese feed pea demand has evaporated, says an analyst. The country imported 2.5 million tonnes of Canadian peas in 2020-21. This year it will likely be about half of that amount, according to Chuck Penner, analyst with LeftField Commodity Research. China was buying boatloads of the product every month in 2020-21 because yellow pea prices […] Read more
La Nina still wreaking havoc, but may be on the way out
La Nina’s toll on Argentina’s crops is being translated into official forecasts that lifted crop futures prices last week. But even as that country’s soybeans and corn suffer, the recent torrential rains in California, reversing a long-term drought in that region, make me wonder if La Nina is finally losing its grip. Later in this […] Read more
Underlying risks in crop production are greater than ever
Yield, cost of production, prices, market outlook: those are the first things we tend to think and talk about when looking toward the next crop. From those we calculate expected profitability. That’s the bottom line everybody works toward. That’s where a lot of people stop. A critical missing component is risk. Farmers have a good […] Read more
Groups continue push for grain contract changes
Sask. producer groups say they have found little interest among grain companies in changing how contracts are written
Saskatchewan crop organizations continue to work on a resolution, passed at their 2022 annual general meetings, that called for the various commissions to lobby for fairer grain delivery contracts. Shaun Dyrland, chair of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, told delegates attending the 2023 annual general meeting that the groups hired Mercantile Consulting Venture to conduct an analysis […] Read more
