A number of private merchants who purchased grain at harvest time seem set to pay €200/t for green barley at 20% moisture content (excluding VAT). It is understood that these merchants will also pay €210/t for green wheat and €195/t for green feed oats.

The decision to fix prices now seems to have been spurred by the weakening in international grain prices last weekend.

The improvement in global supply forecast in the most recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report in the US saw prices ease back considerably on futures markets and by almost €10/t here in the EU.

It is understood that these merchants, located in Wexford, Kildare, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Offaly, Tipperary and the northeast, would purchase between 500,000t and 600,000t of grain annually.

The merchants involved are not affiliated to any particular trading group

It is suggested that these buyers want to offer security to growers who delivered grain in the past month or two, rather than having to wait for another month or more and follow in the footsteps of the big co-ops.

The merchants involved are not affiliated to any particular trading group, but they are committed to the wellbeing of the sector. They want to finalise prices now to enable them to have certainty in how they trade their grain and/or price the rations they produce.

Last year’s wheat price was generally between €180/t and €183/t

A green barley price of €200/t is between €40-€50/t higher than last year’s prices, when some merchants paid between €150 and €155/t. While Dairygold paid €157/t and Glanbia finished with €160/t, these prices included loyalty and other support payments on top of a lower basic price.

Last year’s wheat price was generally between €180/t and €183/t, leaving the prices to be paid by these merchants up by €27-€30/t on last year.

These merchants also encourage growers to consider selling forward for 2022. High prices are likely to be followed by lower prices (and higher costs) and so growers should act now to offset the worst of this potential price drop.

Meanwhile, Dairygold is to pay growers on-account green prices of €160/t for all cereals, €200/t for contracted beans and €440/t for oilseed rape.