French grain prices were up this week, while US prices gained on Tuesday.
The December French wheat price climbed from a monthly low of €223/t on 5 November to €230.50/t on 10 November.
The December 2027 price was more stable, but lower, closing on Tuesday at €223.75/t.
Corn was up as well and following a similar trend. November 2027 French corn climbed over the week to hit €224.50/t on Tuesday.
Oilseed rape prices dropped over the past week, likely with oil prices. They were up slightly this week, with November 2027 French rapeseed at €516.25/t.
Markets are likely watching the talks between Ukraine and Russia closely and examining how this may affect markets.
Malting barley
At last week’s Tillage Day, Malting Company of Ireland CEO Paul McGillicuddy commented that there was a lot of whiskey in the system and the market needed to readjust.
“Once the readjustment happens, the growth is still there and Irish whiskey has a much bigger potential for growth than Scotch whisky. Irish whiskey is coming from a lower base. Irish whiskey is 10% of the Scottish whisky volume. We’re 100m litres. They’re a billion litres. Our potential to grow is significantly higher,” he said.
He added: “I do see the green shoots coming, but I think we have another year of reset and then it will be in a better place.”
Paul said you might see squeezing of barley inventories in the next while, which could help prices rise, but this is speculation.
Last week, merchants supplying Boortmalt put out a fixed price offer of €250/t on up to 20% of their contracts.
The Irish Farmers Journal understands at least one merchant has offered €260/t, some €10/t over other offers.
WASDE
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report for November was released on Tuesday.
Global wheat supply and consumption were reported up, with lower trade and larger stocks. Supplies were estimated up in the report by 6.4m tonnes.
Production was up by 1.5m tonnes in Argentina and Australia. It is now harvest time in those countries. Production was also forecast up in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Global coarse grain production was estimated to be unchanged.
Corn production was estimated up 2m tonnes in Argentina to 57m tonnes and 2m tonnes in Brazil to 141m tonnes, with a larger first-crop area.
Global oilseed production was estimated down on last month’s report. Oilseed rape production is up in Australia and Uruguay, while sunflowerseed production was estimated down in Russia and Argentina, with higher production in South Africa. Soybean production was estimated up by 12m bushels in the US to 4.6b bushels.
