SASKATOON – Canada’s malting companies won’t feel the pinch other grain dealers are experiencing following a record snowfall in southern spots on the Prairies last week.
Steve Goossen, a grain buyer for Canada Malting Company in Winnipeg, said it is a good thing the company selected nearly all of the 600,000 tonnes of barley for this season before any rain or snow fell.
“Anything left in the swath will not be suitable for malting,” he said, adding barley crop left standing through the wet weather might reach acceptable quality.
More stained barley
“The biggest thing we look for is the degree of stain, is it sprouted and how mature is the grain,” Goossen said. “The impact on us is limited because of how advanced we are, but we will be selling a little more stained barley this year than normal.”
Mike Jubinville, a market analyst with United Grain Growers, said what appeared to be a record malting barley crop will still rank higher than average, down to 1.8 million tonnes from an earlier predicted 2.5 million.
