Merchants continue to settle harvest prices across the country following Tirlán and Dairygold’s announcements two weeks ago.

While many have finalised prices, some have yet to do so. The range reported so far remains around €180 to €190/t for green feed barley.

Markets remain stable at present, but still low for the costs faced by farmers. On Friday, the MATIF wheat price for December closed at €189.25/t – the same as the week before and in a similar range to the past seven weeks.

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This week, that price remained similar. It hit €188.75/t on Monday and, on Wednesday afternoon, was at €189/t. The euro-dollar conversion has declined again, which could support the market somewhat.

US corn and soybean prices have increased slightly. Agritel reported that the confirmation of a meeting between the US and China has added optimism to soybean markets.

Irish farmers will look at soybean exports to China to see if US farmers will have a bigger market for their crop and plant less corn next year.

Oats

Flahavan’s is paying its organic oat growers a base price of €415/t (green) and its conventional oat growers a base price of €205/t (green).

The conventional price matches the Tirlán base price for food-grade oats without the co-op trading bonus. Meanwhile, demand for feed oats remains poor across the country. See more on page 7, as well as more on malting barley.

Oilseed rape

French oilseed rape prices dropped last week. The November price was at €462.25/t on Friday, down €4.25/t in a week.

However, this week, that price recovered and, on Wednesday afternoon, was €467/t. The rise in soybean prices might be helping this. Oil prices are moving daily and may be something to keep an eye on.

US harvest

In the US, the government shutdown continues, so USDA reports are not being released on production or harvest progress.

Pro Farmer reported it as the second-longest shutdown in history at 22 days on Wednesday of this week. Some surveys estimate the corn harvest was about 60% complete and soybeans was 70% complete at the start of this week.

All prices are dried, unless green is stated.

Harvest prices

If you have harvest prices that you would like to share with the Irish Farmers Journal, please email swalsh@farmersjournal.ie with the product, the base price and the bonus paid if there is one. The more prices we receive from farmers, the better our reporting can be.