The number of producer cars shipped by prairie farmers will take a sizable drop this year.
Barry Daciw, producer car officer for the Canadian Grain Commission, said he expects the number of cars shipped in the crop year ending July 31 will be around 12,200.
That’s down about eight percent from the 13,243 cars shipped in 2008-09.
He said no single reason stands out for the decline, though weather was a factor.
“Some guys may be holding back some grain for whatever reason. There may be various marketing issues for some producers. It’s hard to say there’s one thing,” he said.
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The wet weather has also caused operational problems for a number of short-line railways, which handle a lot of producer cars.
“We’ve seen track outages, which had to be repaired, and that has really delayed things,” he said.
Nevertheless, Daciw said he expects all producers who want to ship a car this crop year will be able to do so.
Canadian Wheat Board grain accounted for 97.1 percent of the total, or 10,552 cars, over the first 48 weeks of the crop year.
Wheat was number one at 5,922 cars and durum was 3,990 cars.
Saskatchewan has accounted for 65 percent of shipments to date, with 7,047 cars, followed by Alberta and British Columbia at 26 percent (2,889 cars) and Manitoba with 8.5 percent (924 cars).
The port of Thunder Bay was the number one destination, taking delivery of 6,158 cars, followed by Prince Rupert at 3,029 cars and Van-couver at 1,323.
Another 350 cars went to unspecified destinations.
The 2009-10 producer car shipments, as of week 48 of the crop year (previous year in brackets):
Canadian Wheat Board grain:
•wheat: 5,922 (6,218)
•durum: 3,990 (3,743)
•barley: 640 (925)
Total: 10,552 (10,886)
Non-board feed grain:
•wheat: eight (14)
•oats: 180 (316)
•barley: 13 (three)
Total 201 (333)
Non-board grain:
•rye: zero (14)
•flaxseed: one (two)
•canola: one (12)
•other: 105 (64)
Total: 107 (92)
Total producer cars in 2009-10: 10,860
Total producer cars in 2008-09: 11,311
