Canary Seed

[wagar]

Anyone have any idea what Canary
Seed prices are going to do this fall
and winter?

[melvill]

Canary seed prices have dropped from the highs of 23 to 25 cents three to four weeks ago when perception was that heat and drought was really shrinking the crop. About 2 weeks ago prices dropped back to about 20 cents and have slid some since then. The difference - changing ideas of crop size. The drought ideas brought some panic buying. Now harvest results seem to indicate a bigger crop than first throught.

We won't a good estimate of the size of the crop until Stats Can releases their report on Oct 3. The canary seed trade seems to be operating at a 225,000 to 235,000 tonne crop.

One analyst I have a lot of faith in suggests that a 225,000 t crop means a 18-20 cent average price. A 250,000 t crop likely means below 16 - 18 cents most of the winter with 15 cents being close to the bottom.

[melvill]

I had my average canary yield in Saskatchewan at 760 pounds per acre in the middle of August after looking at fields in the NW and Central parts of the province. I will probably raise them closer to 800 next week after Monday's SK crop report.

I've heard yields anywhere between 50 and 1850 pounds.