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SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 73, No. 38 | $1.75
September 17, 2015
Cash grain price service up and running More information is coming
manitobacooperator.ca
Churchill season starts later but on track The port is trying to reduce track maintenance costs without compromising export shipments
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
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conomists agree key to a successful open grain market is, well, openness, which includes easy access to accurate market information such as cash prices. To that end the Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) launched the first phase of its free, new web-based Crop Data and Price Reporting initiative (www.pdqinfo.ca) Sept. 8. Price & Data Quotes (PDQ) aims to be “a complete and unbiased” source for cash grain prices and crop data for farmers, the AWC said in a news release. The days when farmers could get Manitoba Pool’s daily street prices on the radio are long gone. They were a guide as to what markets were doing and a benchmark by which to compare before selling. A number of market analysts and newspapers, including this one, publish cash grain prices based on a survey of buyers, but some contend the current system isn’t transparent enough, especially since the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over western Canadian wheat and barley destined for export or doSee CASH GRAIN on page 6 »
Grain being loaded onto the first ship of the season at Port of Churchill, Sept. 2015
By Jade Markus Churchill, Man./CNS Canada
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
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hipping from the Port of Churchill started a month later than usual this season — a trade-off between reducing railway maintenance costs in warm weather and getting as much grain as possible through the northern route before winter freeze-up. Loading started Sept. 9 on the Clipper Bettina with the vessel bound for Kenya and other African ports carrying 36,000 tonnes of hard red spring wheat. Churchill typically sees its first shipment in early August, but port officials said they started later this year to lower the cost of maintaining the track. Cooler temperatures lower the cost of
Photo: Jade Markus
maintaining the rail line through northern Manitoba, said Merv Tweed, president of OmniTrax Canada, the railway company that operates the port. When running trains over the tundra, he said, “when it firms up, it stays firm.” Jeff McEachern, executive director of the Churchill Gateway Development Corporation, said another factor was excessive supplies and low demand within the global grain market. “I’ve talked to other port terminals and people in the industry and they’re saying the same thing,” he said, adding that “the grain isn’t moving as quickly as we would like.” The Hudson Strait, which links Hudson Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, also poses a mix of challenges. It’s beneficial to guide vessels through safely, but also freezes often.
If the weather co-operates, the port is scheduled to operate until Nov. 6. Tweed said he is confident the combined shipments from four companies will exceed 400,000 tonnes, but it may fall short of the budgeted 500,000 tonnes. Winnipeg grain firm Richardson International is behind the first shipment of the year. Company wheat merchant Jerry Trenouth said Richardson likes the port’s geographical proximity, although using it is not without challenges. “The Port of Churchill is geographically closer to the Prairie farmer. So there’s less logistics to get it to an export terminal,” he said. But, “the season is a bit shorter,” he See CHURCHILL on page 7 »
DRAINAGE: SASKATCHEWAN INTRODUCES NEW RULES » PAGE 20