New Record Bids in Canadian Peas

VANCOUVER - Jan 18/08 - SNS -- European feed pea markets finished the week on a firmer note in both local and U.S. currency terms.

Good advances were reported on inter-dealer markets in Belgium and Holland; while growers bids in France and the United Kingdom firmed on the week.

The performance of feed peas contrasted that for protein markets, led lower by soybean meal on the week. By contrast, the energy component of livestock feed rations, as expressed by corn, was firmer on the week.

Alaron Trading Corporation's Tim Hannagan said corn markets will spend the first 90 days of the calendar year trying "to find a price high enough to maintain interest among farmers to plant equal or more acres than 2007. This is not going to be easy, as soybeans and spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Exchange continue to seek their price to insure wheat and bean acres are sufficient enough to keep us from running out their shrinking stock.

"Last year corn rallied from a January low of 3.70 basis July futures to 4.60 on February 26th to insure we planted enough acres not to run out of corn in 2008. It worked, we planted 14 million acres more than 2006 and fund selling in March and April dropped July to a 3.58 low April 2 before funds repositioned long for our summer growing season rally. With corn and beans further ahead on its rally to buy acres many think we could lock up the acres needed and correct back in January," Hannagan noted.

"We do expect farmer decisions to be made earlier than the late February highs it took last year. Reasons are twofold: prices are far ahead of a year ago; and seed salesmen are telling growers that they better buy that preferred bio-genetic seed now or they may not be able to get it later as supplies run out."

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here