Grain today - december 16, 2019

Good afternoon,             
 
                This will likely be the last note for 2019 as we are getting very close to the end of the year. I don’t think there are many producers who won’t be glad to see the end of this year with harvest dragging on as long as it did. I talked to one producer who said he was 97 days from start to finish. Maybe not a record but close to it.
 
                First the good news. We are seeing some strength in yellow peas for movement in Jan/Feb/Mar. Up $.75/bushel from the lows at harvest. We still are chewing on the carry out from last year so I don’t see a big run up but we are over $6 picked up in all locations now. With better prices in western SK and AB. Any one with yellow peas to market let their broker know. Or reply to this email as well.
               
We are seeing better bids for DRY, low vom, 48 lb barley as well in MB and eastern SK. If it meets these specs we are getting bids of $3.85 to $4.10 depending on location. There still is some demand for Dec/ Jan movement. There is also good demand in AB as well. Let us know if you are interested in moving some.
               
                There seems to be some interest in red lentils as well. We have traded #3 reds of 17.5/ lb fob farm. #2’s at $19.5 as well. We do have good prices for feed quality as well. Give us a call with what you have. This would be for Jan/Feb movement.
 
                Then for the bad news. We are seeing very large volumes of #3 low falling number HRS wheat, feed (sprouts) HRS wheat and sprouted durum. The bids have slipped in the past month by $0.25/ bus to $0.40 depending on quality and location. One of the biggest problems is that so much of this is 16 to 18 moisture and the discounts are significant. If you have this quality of wheat it is likely worth your while to dry it. As an example, we had bids of $4.25 on 16 moisture feed HRS wheat in the Redvers SK area. if this wheat is dry it would be worth $4.80 to $5.00. But show us what you have and we can help you with price discovery on both dry and tough whet. This will hopefully help you decide what approach to take.
 
                The other bit of bad news is the lack of availability and cost of truck freight. There seems to be a shortage of trucks. We keep thinking that it will get better but doesn’t. this is having a big impact on your farm gate price. As an example, we booked trucks from Redvers area to Lethbridge last year for $47/MT this year if you could find the truck the rate would be $60/MT. This has a $0.28/ bushel impact on your picked-up price. Part of this is the normal west to east movement of fertilizer has not taken place this year at normal volumes so trucks are having to come back to central SK to find loads back east. There seems to be less trucks hauling grain. Hopefully this situation will get resolved in the new year.
 
                As far as 2020 crop prices we are not seeing many if any buyers giving us new crop prices yet. They seem to want to wait until the crop shows during January to roll out their new prices. If anyone would like us to help them compare different bids from the various buyers please call. We would be glad to contribute. Here at Quality Grain we have always pride ourselves on being able to help you with your price shopping.
 
                As 2019 is winding down the staff and management would like to thank you for your support through the year and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Richard Chambers
Marketer
Brandon, MB
richard_qgm@mymts.net
204-729-1354 - Office
204-761-8320 - Cell
​Twitter - @QGM_Grain