Feed Barley Prices Still Historically High, but Facing Headwinds

Western Canadian feed barley bids remain historically strong, despite easing off their highs over the past month and trending lower. 

With bids of around C$410/tonne into the Lethbridge feedlot alley, feed barley “is still a sell,” analyst Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm said as part of a webinar. However, he cautioned the barley market continues to face headwinds, including the availability of American corn. 

The feedlot industry on this side of the border has become much more comfortable importing corn from the US, he said, with the relative convenience of bringing up a trainload of American corn compared to contracting hundreds of trucks of local barley helping to keep corn in feed rations even as the price spread shifts. The preference is still for barley, but if the economic opportunity of bringing in corn by rail is there, the feedlots will continue to take it, he said. 

On the export front, Canada remains very price competitive shipping barley to China, but that could easily change, Jubinville said. A trade dispute between Australia and China is keeping Australian barley out of the Chinese market for the time being, but talks between the two countries could change that, he said.