After a rise last week, grain prices went back down this week again.

The MATIF French December wheat price closed on Friday of last week at €225/t. That was up €6.25/t on the previous week.

However, that increase didn’t last for too long. On Tuesday evening, that price was down at €219.25/t. However, on Wednesday morning it had come back up slightly and was at €221/t.

Maize prices also fell in Europe, while in the US prices were on the way up on Tuesday evening.

The increase last week looked to be affected by concern over global supplies and getting access to grain from the Black Sea region.

Floods in eastern Europe did not seem to affect prices. The United States Department of Agriculture released its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report last week.

That report estimated increased global wheat supplies of 1.5m tonnes.

Countries such as Canada and Australia are seeing increases in supplies.

In contrast, global coarse grain production, which includes grain such as maize and barley, was forecast down by 1.8m tonnes. The maize and soybean harvests are under way in the US. As of 15 September, 15% of maize had been harvested.

Rapeseed

On a positive note, oilseed rape prices were on the way up this week. On Wednesday morning, French oilseed rape for November was at €467.50/t, up €4.50/t on the day before.

Prices in Canada were rising after Statistics Canada reduced its rapeseed production estimate by 500,000t from last month.

The WASDE report reduced foreign oilseed production by 2.8m tonnes, mainly based on lower production in Europe. The report also reduced sunflower production in the EU. US soybean production was forecast down 3m bushels.

Malting barley

The first harvest price of the season was settled last Friday. Boortmalt’s harvest price finished at €247.69/t.

It takes the average price of the Free-On-Board (FOB) Creil Planet price for malting barley in France at the close of business every Wednesday from mid-April to mid-September and uses the average of these to calculate the harvest price.

This average came to €257.69/t and a €10/t charge was taken off for logistics and handling. Distilling barley receives a €10/t bonus.

Native prices

At home, barley prices for November are reported around €215 to €220/t. Wheat is at around €230/t or maybe up to €235/t. All prices are dried prices, unless otherwise stated.