Grain Trends: prices increase as production revised down

Global wheat markets were picking up this week, which was good to see after they took a dramatic fall in recent weeks.

MATIF wheat for December finished last week at €216.50/t, up €7.75/t on the week. On Wednesday afternoon 4 September, it had climbed further to €221.75/t. Maize prices also climbed.

There is no talk of harvest prices from merchants or co-ops yet - as to be expected.

With the late harvest, prices will mostly be announced in October and this could be to our growers’ benefit if the market climbs, but there has to be news in the market for those prices to climb.

The cut in EU grain yields from last week’s crop monitoring report from the European Commission is likely feeding into this.

The Commission cut soft wheat production from 120.8m to 116.1m tonnes and reduced barley by 1.4m to 51.3m tonnes.

Maize was revised back 1.3m tonnes from the July estimate to 61.7m tonnes. The UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) reported that German wheat production is down 12.7% to 18.8m tonnes.

Low bushels and low protein are showing up in France, just as they are here in Ireland.

The wheat area in England was reported to be down 11% in 2024 by DEFRA to 1,402,000ha.

On 28 August, 88% of the UK’s wheat area, 32% of spring barley and 61% of oats had been cleared.

Oilseed rape

Rapeseed prices dropped this week. The November French price closed at €470.25/t last Friday, up €15.50/t in the week. However, on Wednesday afternoon that price was at €467.75/t.

Canadian canola (rapeseed) prices fell and crude oil traded below $70/barrel in New York for the first time since December 2023, according to Agritel. This no doubt affected prices.

Strategie grains is reported to have revised the EU rapeseed crop down by 15%.

Malting barley

The Boortmalt harvest price currently stands at €249.25/t after the €10/t handling charge is taken off. Last week’s price contributing to the average was €240/t. Growers who qualify for distilling will receive another €10/t.

As we go to print, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that Boortmalt will now take barley with a bushel weight from 60 to 63KPH, with a price penalty under 63.

There had been issues with bushel weights. More details will follow.

Interestingly, in the UK, the AHDB was reporting feed barley prices of £150.30/t on 29 August and a malting barley price of £176.60/t. It reported that the difference a year ago was £60/t.