Durum turns to gold

Durum prices have nowhere to go but up. Bruce Burnett, the director of weather and market surveillance for the Canadian Wheat Board spoke to a farmer meeting yesterday at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina. Burnett says only about 40 per cent of the North Dakota durum crop has been seeded due to the same wet conditions plaguing southeastern Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba. Here in Western Canada, the durum acreage is higher than last year, but not nearly as high as the seeding intentions estimate from Statistics Canada. North Africa has a good durum crop, but they’ve been receiving a lot of rain in their harvest period and that is expected to downgrade quality. Burnett says that on the international market, durum is running at a $4 a bushel premium to spring wheat. In the May Pool Return Outlook, the price projection for top grade new crop durum was in the $8 a bushel range after deducting average Saskatchewan freight and handling. Look for a substantial increase in the June PRO. I’m Kevin Hursh.