Grain markets remained largely flat last week, with stocks of wheat and maize in the US keeping pressure on old crop markets. This was counterbalanced to some degree by the most recent wheat purchase by Egypt being sourced from Romania and Ukraine, according to the AHDB report. It seems that freight cost is now having an impact on trade sources.

The latest US report on supply and demand suggests higher wheat and maize stocks in the US and these are pressuring prices. Increasing optimism for the Brazilian safrinha maize crop is adding to supply on top of the increased production forecasts for 2019/20.

New-crop markets have some potentially bullish pointers, with reduced wheat production possible from EU countries like Germany, Spain, Romania and Bulgaria due to dryness concerns. This has the possibility to alter sentiment from price negative to neutral, but only time will tell.

The increased projected output for Russian wheat has acted to weaken wheat futures since the start of this week.

There are also issues with weather in the US delaying maize planting, but this too is more of a talking point than a real issue for the moment.

Native spot prices remain broadly similar, with wheat at €205 to €206/t and barley at €182 to €188/t. November prices are a bit weaker though, with wheat around €182 to €184/t and barley about €10/t lower at around €172 to €174/t.