Flax bids steady to weaker

(Resource News International) — Cash bids for flaxseed in Western Canada have trended in a fairly steady to slightly easier price pattern and there does not seem to be much in the way of developments to break it out of the status quo.

“Every once in a while there are some improved opportunities for producers with flax as grain companies need to shore up supplies in order to meet sales commitments, but those are few and far between,” said Paul Martin of Prairie Flax Products at Portage la Prairie, Man.

“To tell you the truth, there is a bit of a lull, as end- users have supplies to cover needs at least in the short-term, and producers are not in any hurry to deliver,” he added.

The flat market is mainly due to the fact the European ban on Canadian flax has yet to be resolved. “There has been little to no progress in the eyes of the flaxseed producer on this front,” Martin said. 

And the grain companies who want to ship flax to Europe don’t want to take the chance of CDC Triffid genetics being found as flax goes through the European testing process, he said.

The ample flaxseed supply situation in Western Canada also does not bode well for a huge jump in the cash market, Martin said.

“It’s going to be interesting to see whether there is a significant drop in the area planted to flaxseed this spring because of this European ban,” he said.

Martin acknowledged there are traditional flaxseed producers who will put some acreage in as part of the rotation program. Others, however, are giving up on growing flaxseed until the Triffid issue has been settled with Europe.

“The growers who are still thinking about flaxseed are noting that if they can still get about $9 a bushel for the crop, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, given that it is a low-input crop in comparison with canola,” Martin said.

Demand from the U.S. for Canadian flaxseed has also been constant, which means that there is some good news still out there, he said.

Current bids

Cash bids for old-crop flaxseed delivered to the elevator in Saskatchewan, based on Prairie Ag Hotwire data, currently ranges from $7.95 to $8.05 a bushel and in Alberta from $7.74 to $8.65. No bids were available from Manitoba.

Old-crop bids for flaxseed on March 1 in Saskatchewan were $7.95 to $8.05 and in Alberta, $8.05 to $8.56.

New-crop bids in Saskatchewan, delivered to the elevator on  March 26, ranged from $8.50 to $9.00 a bushel. No new-crop offers were available in either Manitoba or Alberta.

The EU initially suspended all Canadian flaxseed entering the country in early September 2009. In November 2009, Japan also initiated testing of all Canadian flaxseed entering the country after the discovery of contamination with genetics from CDC Triffid, a genetically modified (GM), deregistered and never-commercialized flaxseed variety.

Brazil began testing Canadian flaxseed for GM contamination in December 2009.

There are currently no varieties of GM flaxseed registered in Canada. Triffid, or FP967, got regulatory feed and environmental safety authorizations in 1996, and food safety authorizations in 1998, but was never released for commercial production.