Canada: Both malting and feed barley prices down in Canada

Barley prices for both malting and feed barley are down in Canada, in a very quiet market and as the pace of exports is slowing, including to the US, RMI Analytics said in their latest report.

The threat of US tariffs is starting to show up in commercial discussions as offers include a clause “all tariff impacts are for the account of the Buyer”, which makes the economics unworkable when tariff impacts are included.

While demand remains weak, any US tariff is not particularly an issue but eventually any tariff would inflate US prices, and weaken domestic Canadian barley prices. This puts more reliance on Chinese barley purchases, which are showing signs of slowing. The quiet seasonal period around the holidays slowed more than normal, proven by low farm deliveries into the export grain flow.

Domestically, maltsters are well covered, and feed prices are up slightly, as US corn imports are more expansion due to the weaker Canadian dollar.