Canada: The Canadian Wheat Board expects that only about 2.0 million tonnes of barley will be selected for malting in 2004-05, compared to a normal 2.5 million tonnes. As total Western Canada barley production rose by 0.9 million tonnes in 2004-05, this implies additional feed barley supplies of 1.4 million tonnes.

Western Canada produces between 10-13 Mt tonnes of barley annually. In general about 15-20 percent of the barley produced is selected for malting purposes with the remainder used for feed. But today, US corn, CPS wheat and low quality CWRS wheat can compete with western barley. In addition the threat of Fusarium Head Blight has turned some Canadian producers away from wheat and barley. This is of particular concern in eastern Manitoba, where strong feed demand from the hog industry has resulted in imports of wheat and barley from further west, and corn from the US. Most feed barley supply is based on malting barley varieties that failed to be selected for malting, rather than higher-yielding feed varieties. For years, the standard for judging the quality of feed barley has largely been the bushel weight. Research has indicated that bushel weight is correlated to feed value, but not necessarily to feed energy. Feed barley of the same test weight can have a large variation in feed energy.

Feed barley prices have remained surprisingly strong, given the large supplies, with the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) Lethbridge cash price expected to average about C$110/t in 2004-05, about 20% lower than in 2003-04.

For 2005-06, the Canadian barley price is expected to remain near the 2004-05 level.

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