(Canadian Press)

By Troy Gillard

Agriculture

Crop and cattle prices going strong in Alberta

Jun 8, 2021 | 8:12 AM

Prices for canola, wheat and cattle, some of Alberta’s staple agricultural exports, have been on the rise of late.

ATB Financial points out that according to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, the price of canola, which is Alberta’s largest crop by total dollar value, increased 10 months in a row, reaching $646.56 per metric tonne in April. That’s 34 per cent higher than the five-year average.

The story is similar for Alberta’s second largest crop, ATB notes, with wheat prices increasing every month since September 2020. At $282.46 per metric tonne, the price in April was 16 per cent higher than the five-year average.

Things have been more uneven in the cattle sector, however. After pulling back three months in a row last fall and falling by one per cent in March, cattle prices rose by six per cent in April to land at $145.73 per hundredweight six per cent higher than the five-year average.

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Hog prices have been on a tear in recent months, rising by 60 per cent since the start of the year to reach $113.72 per hundredweight in April (51% per cent above the five-year average).

Prices were also above the five-year average for oats, barely, lentils, peas, chickens, milk and eggs.

ATB says the price improvement has been driven by tight global supplies and increased international demand. In keeping with this, the value of exports of agricultural products from Alberta was up sharply over the first three months of the year.