Milling durum values are up $31 per tonne in the Canadian Wheat Board’s latest 2007-08 pool return outlook (PRO) on “increasing uncertainty” of new-crop supplies.
Wheat values, meanwhile, rose another $10 to $30 per tonne in the new PRO, released Thursday, as designated barley values remained flat and Pool B feed barley values dropped $7 per tonne from the Jan. 24 PRO.
Although durum growers in both Canada and the U.S. are expected to raise their durum-seeded acres in 2008, it’s been dry through most of the fall and winter in the key durum-growing areas, “increasing uncertainty about new-crop supplies” while historically tight supplies continue to support old-crop durum values, the board said.
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The latest increase raises values for No. 1 Canada Western Amber Durum (14.5 per cent) in the February 2007-08 PRO to $531 per tonne from $500 in January. No. 4 CWAD was pegged at $500 per tonne, up from $469, while No. 5 CWAD rose $23 per tonne to $313.
New-crop wheat is still months away from harvest while old-crop supplies continue to tighten under ongoing demand, the board said. Dry conditions in the Mediterranean basin and southern U.S. plains (where winter wheat is already seeded) are also cause for concern, and uncertainty over farmers’ pending seeding decisions in both Western Canada and the northern U.S. plains are expected to make for “extremely volatile” markets until the new crop arrives.
No. 1 Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS) and No. 4 Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) are both up $10 per tonne to $365 and $339 respectively in the February PRO. High-protein No. 1 CWRS (14.5) is up $30 to $392 per tonne. No. 1 Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) is up $20 at $354 per tonne.
Offshore demand for feed barley has weakened, the board said, while supplies of available substitute feed grains and Australia’s exportable barley are both larger than expected. No. 1 Canada Western (Pool B) feed barley values in the February PRO are down $7, at $252 per tonne.
Malting barley markets are “mostly quiet,” the CWB said, as end users are mostly covered, although current-year supplies are still tight and forecasts call for fewer acres to be seeded to barley this spring. PRO values thus remained flat, with Standard Select Canada Western two-row at $290 per tonne and SS CW six-row at $264.
