Feed wheat price prospects improve

In years when there is a lot of wheat and durum downgraded to feed quality, feed wheat values usually drop. That isn’t happening this year. In the Canadian Wheat Pool’s September Pool Return Outlook released yesterday, the expected prices for spring wheat are up by $4 to $30 a tonne compared to last month with the variation depending upon grade, class and protein content. No. 1 CWRS wheat with 14.5 per cent protein is up by the maximum $30 a tonne and so is the lowest grade – CW Feed.  No one wants to end up with feed wheat, but the price could be worse. The Saskatchewan PRO is $4.23 a bushel. By comparison, the expected price for No. 1 CWRS with 12.5 per cent protein is $6.16 a bushel. A similar situation exists with durum. The durum PRO is up from $1 to $21 a tonne depending upon grade and protein content and the $21 is on No. 5 durum – the lowest grade. The Saskatchewan PRO for No. 5 durum is $4.07 a bushel as compared to $5.40 a bushel for No. 1 durum with 12.5 per cent protein. So why have feed wheat and No. 5 durum gained price strength? Because a lot of the price rise in the entire grain complex is due to rising corn prices. This will increase the opportunity to market wheat and durum into the feed market at better values. I’m Kevin Hursh.