CNS Canada — Cash bids for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat moved lower during the week ended Monday, following sharp losses seen in U.S. futures markets.
Average spot bids Monday for CWRS (13.5 pr cent protein) across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in at around $203 per tonne, or $5.52 per bushel, based on pricing available from a cross-section of delivery points. That compares with $213 per tonne ($5.80/bu.) the previous week. Basis levels also widened to a discount of $69 relative to the futures, from a $66 difference the week prior.
Read Also
Feed Grains Weekly: Price likely to keep stepping back
As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
The May spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, off of which most CWRS contracts in Canada are based, was quoted at US$7.4275/bu. on Monday, down 20.25 cents from the week prior.
Spot bids for Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat (CPSR) were largely non-existent, with many delivery locations now only bidding on new-crop wheat.
Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, which are now traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPSR in Canada. The May Kansas City wheat contract lost 30.5 cents during the week, settling Monday at US$7.64/bu. Easing concerns about dry weather in the U.S. Plains, paired with chart-based selling weighed on the futures during the week.
Average durum prices were unchanged compared to last week at $174 per tonne, or $4.75 per bushel.
— Terryn Shiells writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.
