Market Report: April 10, 2024

We are now in full swing of spring, with the weather warming up, most farmers have their seeding intentions planned out and are anxious to get into the fields. Gotta love this time of year, the feeling of new beginnings and longer days ahead bring a renewed sense of hope.  

With spring comes road ban season and earlier this month we had some premium on barley as feedlots are working to get covered for April-May. Unfortunately, with the drop in corn prices this week the feed barley prices are now returning to status quo. The northern region is around the $5/bu FOB, the central region is around $5.10-5.20/bu FOB and the southern region prices are around $5.50-5.70/bu FOB. The bright spots in the barley market seem to be area specific and based on some smaller buyers looking for coverage for the spring and summer months at a premium. Although it’s anyone’s guess what will happen in the barley market, it seems the surplus of barley and corn stocks will likely keep the prices relatively flat for the months ahead.  

Oat prices have also backed off considerably recently, most buyers are covered well into the summer months and the demand has driven down the prices. Oats prices for the northern region are around $4/bu FOB, the central region around $4.40/bu FOB and the southern region around the $4.50/bu FOB.  

Canola appears to be on a slow but steady trend upwards, hopefully the current trend will continue. Australia has captured a large portion of the barley export market, but they have also captured a a substantial portion of the export market for Canola, and with they are anticipating their third largest canola crop on record for the upcoming season, it would have an impact of the export market share of ICE canola.  

While the weather is always a big topic amongst the farming community it appears the drought concerns may be temporarily paused with the recent moisture down south. Having said that many northern regions are running very dry for the time of year, it will be interesting to see what type of impact the weather has on the planting and growing season this year.  

Seller’s tip: Pricing premiums appear to be few and far between these days, therefore if you find yourself being offered a decent price might be a good idea to capitalize on it, you never know when the next premium or special will present itself in the current market.