Pea prices in China continue to move higher and recent reports state yellow pea bids are at their highest since 2016. China has been the dominant buyer of Canadian peas and remain to be the key player in driving/supporting this market. Current pricing on peas hasn’t fluctuated much since last week; yellow peas are $9.00/bu delivered, green peas are $10.50/bu delivered and maple peas are $10.00/bu picked up. We do have a market for Acer variety maple peas at slightly higher values, with some areas able to capture $10.50/bu on farm. Most pea movement is now pushed out into the new year, with some buyers showing delivery out until March. If you have a target price in mind or are looking to get into some new seed for next year, let your merchant know.

Wheat markets continue their sideways to lower trend this week, with not a lot of upside expected in the near future. Australia and Argentina are both harvesting wheat at the moment, reminding us – regardless of the time of the year, wheat is usually being harvested somewhere in the world, leaving supply shortages tough to come by. Canadian prices are a bit soft on the wheat side with HRS seeing bids below $7.00/bu delivered. There is the potential for higher protein product (~14%+) to capture $7.00/bu delivered to plant in some locations. Feed wheat/durum, however, are still staying strong with multiple areas seeing bids of $6.00/bu or better picked up on farm with no dockage being deducted. Milling durum is priced at $8.00/bu, to slightly higher in some areas, delivered plant.

The canaryseed market has seen a rebound this week, managing to claw its way back to $0.32/lb FOB farm for February/March movement. We are actively trading these values in most locations, so if you missed the boat on the first go-round, now is your chance to hop on board! We have also seen some options available for quicker movement at $0.30-$0.31/lb FOB the farm; strong values for those needing cash before March. Although we are seeing stronger bids this week, we don’t necessarily see it as a sign of more strength to come, but rather as buyers trying to cover some sales. If you are holding out for better values on canaryseed, targets are always an option.  Thus far, buyers aren’t interested in pushing bids higher. Our suggestion: hedge the downside. We are seeing record values right now and corrections downward usually aren’t a penny at a time.  We have not heard of a new crop price yet as of late but expect to start seeing bids in the new year.

The feed barley market remains flat this week with product consistently trading between $4.50 to $5.00/bu FOB the farm. The closer you are to Southwest Sask. and into Alberta, the better the price will be, as most product continues to head West. Although not comparable to the highs we’ve seen this year, these are still really good prices for feed barley and even malt in some cases, considering the almost nonexistent spread in value. Making some incremental sales at these levels looks to be a good play at this time.

Flax prices remain similar to last week and in some cases, growers are still able to catch $18.00/bu picked up on brown flax if movement is out to March. New crop pricing remains in the $14.00/bu FOB range.  Commercial inventories are the largest since 2014/15 with stocks rising in Thunder Bay and Vancouver. In order for the EU to maintain supplies, imports will need to be up 4% from last year according to analysts. However, the estimates of the 2020 crop are still wavering. The Black Sea Region exports were higher in September compared to the last two years, but the actual size of the Russia / Kazakh crop will provide more indication over the next couple of months. Canadian flax prices are nearly at an all time high, this is in part due to some disruption in the Black Sea Region. Whether that’s due to logistics or poorer crops is still the unknown. If the issue overseas is logistics, then there is downside risk for the Canadian flax prices. Make sure to have some flax locked in, there is too much on the table to be taken away.

Lentils continue soften with price dropping a cent or two since last week. Early reports out of Australia suggests that their lentil crop will be of good quality and decent yields. This will hinder Canadian sales into destination ports as cheaper shipping costs out of Australia become available. It also looks like the Australian market underestimated last year’s production, which on paper states Australia should be out of lentils, yet they continue to ship product. Right now, early estimation on this year’s crop is 1 million tonnes, but if forecasting is off like last year, that could go as high as 1.3 million. We suspect these reports could have something to do with prices softening the last couple of weeks. Bids today are as follows: Red lentils $0.27-$0.28/lb delivered; Large green lentils $0.35-$0.36/lb picked up; Small greens $0.30-$0.32/lb delivered.  At this time no new crop pricing has been released by any of our buyers.

Mustard demand is likely to remain fairly slow with Covid restrictions really weighing on the issue. Buyers continue to report to us that overseas demand remains very sluggish. This could change rapidly as things improve, but obviously there are issues with the pandemic ongoing. Bids today are steady sitting at $0.40/lb FOB farm for yellow with a delivery window of Dec./Jan.  Brown sits at $0.31/lb FOB for Jan./Feb. pickup and Oriental Forge sits at $0.28/lb for Jan./Feb. movement. Cutlass Oriental is sitting at $0.26/lb for the same new year shipping. New crop mustard bids have arrived so that is very exciting, and bids are strong. Please call your merchant for the latest in prices and movement. Also, seed sales are underway, we have many varieties, treated or untreated and sales include free delivered to your yard.   

Oats seem to be holding steady here this week as prices haven’t varied to much from last. Milling oat bids are maintaining around $4.00/bu delivered with movement into the new year and onwards. If you have dry and heavy feed oats, look for pricing to come in around that $2.35 – $2.70/bu range with the latter price being location specific for different buyers. Also, offers are a handy way to get the word out that you are looking to market some grain so give your Rayglen agent a call and they’ll be happy to help you out.

Soybean market remains fueled by the fusion of dry weather in South America, diminishing U.S. stocks and healthy Chinese demand. Local soybean bids now hover around $12.25-$12.50/bu picked up depending on location. Faba bean export quality bids are scarce due to a return to typical global production levels and typical trade patterns. Feed faba bids are in the range of $6.50-$7.00/bu FOB farm, location dependent. North American dry bean harvest has largely concluded, and production numbers are up. Harvest delivery pressure is beginning to subside, and some early support has come to some of the specialty classes. New crop dry bean bids are soon to be released. Contact Rayglen if you are interested in new crop.

January canola futures have done nothing but go up in the past weeks and currently sit at $569.40/MT, compared to $559/MT at time of writing last week. Solid gains, leading to highs we haven’t seen in years with soybeans and soy oil, are offering support to the canola markets. Strong technical signal and export numbers are also helping bring the January futures up to numbers we’ve only seen once in the past 5 years. There is currently no carry into the March and May futures as they both sit at $569/MT as well.

The chickpea market continues to simmer a bit this week as prices are indicated around $0.30 to maybe $0.31/lb on across the board sizing. For larger sized product, over 80% 9mm, we have some buyers that will pay a few cents premium, but bids, for the most part, are not heating up with just very little buyer interest to date. It’s possible that part of the lackluster market interest is the small sized product that we have produced this year. It just does not draw the same interest from the end users as larger caliber product does. If we see some slowdown in the Russian export market, which is expected due to a supposedly smaller crop, we might see renewed overseas interest in Canadian origin chickpeas. The hottest thing in the chickpea market right now is increased interest in sample or feed quality product. We’ve seen bids in the low twenties, $0.23 to $0.24 range, being firmed up in recent weeks.

Rayglen Market Comments are for informational purposes only. Rayglen Commodities and its agents or employees shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by any person as a result of reliance on any of the contents contained within these products, whether such loss or damage arises from negligence or misrepresentation or any act or omission of its agents or employees.