Grain prices were not very exciting this week. The Matif wheat price for December closed at €208.75/t on Tuesday, 9 June.

It closed last Friday at €209.50/t and has declined steadily since 26 May when it was at €222.50/t.

US and UK wheat were following a similar trend. Oilseed rape took a drop over the last week.

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It hit €539/t on 3 June, but fell to €525.75/t on 5 June.

On Tuesday evening it was at €527/t. Oil prices had fallen this week.

Agritel reported this week that: “The strengthening of production prospects in Europe and the Black Sea complicates attempts of prices to rebound on technical levels after the sharp fall last week.”

The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report is due out on Thursday, 11 June and will no doubt be a watchpoint for traders.

In the US, 97% of corn is now planted and 86% is emerged, with 67% in good or excellent condition.

Looking at soybeans, 92% are planted, 79% emerged and 65% are in good or excellent condition.

The barley crop in Britain has fallen to its lowest area since 2010. The total barley area is estimated at 930,000ha, down 12% from last year and 17% below the five-year average.

The main fall has come from spring barley, with a small fall in winter barley. The barley area has fallen 13% in Scotland to 258,000ha.

It’s the lowest level since the 1960s according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) variety and planting survey.

The reduction is likely associated with the decline in demand in malting barley, similar to what’s happening in Ireland.

The wheat area in Britain has increased by 3% to 1,711,000ha, up 1% on the five-year average.

The oats area has fallen by 15%. Overall cereals area is down by 4% in Britain, so there could be less available for export, but with malting markets down, there could also be more.

Oilseed rape

Oilseed rape area has rebounded in Britain by a massive 49% since last year to 358,000ha.

The AHDB reported that in Australia, the area planted to canola is expected to fall by 6% to 3.5m ha and the harvest is predicted to be 20% smaller at 6.2m tonnes. That’s the lowest level since the 2023/2024 season.

Malting markets

At the Irish Tillage and Land Use Society’s summer field day last week, Paul McGillicuddy of the Malting Company of Ireland said that there is another tough year ahead for malting barley markets, but he was positive about the outlook for the future.

“Irish whiskey, I think, is in good shape – we just need to reset the inventory levels and get back to a normalised pattern from 2027/2028 afterwards,” he said.

Spot malting barley in France, the Free-On-Board Creil price was reported at €212/t this week.