Canadian hay headed for China

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Ontario growers don’t currently export hay to China but that all could change with the right infrastructure in place, says the province’s forage specialist.

On Monday, the federal government marked the first commercial shipment of Canadian alfalfa hay to China with a news release. Canadian growers gained access to the Chinese market a year ago.

Green Prairie International, a forage wholesaler located in Alberta, initiated the shipment.

Joel Bagg, Ontario’s forage specialist, says exporting hay overseas requires processing infrastructure, which is not yet established in Ontario. The infrastructure includes equipment to double compress the hay for shipment in overseas containers. The infrastructure does exist in Western Canada where hay is already shipped to countries like Korea and Japan.

He notes the Ontario Forage Council’s hay marketing forum is investigating establishing this infrastructure to potentially serve not only the Chinese market but also markets in the Middle East. In 2010, the Council’s manager was part of a fact-finding mission that explored marketing opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. There is strong demand for hay there “because of water limitations,” Bagg says.

While global opportunities grow, demand for hay remains strong in the domestic market as well as along the United States’ Eastern Seaboard and in its south.

Everyone’s short of hay for the same reason, Bagg says: loss of acreage to grains and oilseeds because of the high prices those crops currently command. Dry weather in Texas and Oklahoma is also driving demand.

“I’m hearing over 10 to 12 cents (per pound),” Bagg says, pointing out that a few years ago hay sold for four to five cents per pound. “It’s gone up dramatically.”

The federal news release estimates the 2011 worth of Canadian alfalfa and Timothy hay, meal and pellets total exports to be $85 million. BF