Grain markets took a dramatic drop down in the past few days. In recent weeks we reported that more news would be needed to feed the market and keep prices up.

Little news came, and while there was some recovery in prices this week, it now seems one of the market highs of the year has passed.

That’s not to say there won’t be another high, but it does highlight the need to make use of opportunities.

Looking at the price for December French wheat on 6 March, this price was at €204.25/t. It climbed and hit a level and on 17 April was at €221.75/t.

It moved up fairly steadily after this, and hit a high of €274/t on 27 May. On Monday of this week, 10 June, it plummeted back down to €247.25/t and then recovered to €254/t on Tuesday, 11 June.

However, on Wednesday afternoon that price was at €248.50/t.

As prices drop down, there are reports of quite a bit of old crop grain on offer in both Ireland and abroad, but little appetite to purchase as buyers do not have a lot of demand at the minute and can probably afford to take a chance on markets dropping.

There looks to be little signs of forward selling new crop at present.

So, what’s putting pressure on the markets? The US wheat harvest is progressing faster than expected. The French harvest will start this month and this will be an important watch point.

A big announcement last week was that Turkey is banning wheat imports from 21 June to the middle of October. Turkey was reported to be the fourth largest wheat importer in the world in 2023/2024, so this is a concern as it could result in more wheat being available on the market.

Oilseed rape

Oilseed rape prices also declined last week and recovered slightly. On Friday 7 June French oilseed rape for November was down €19.25/t in the week to €476.25/t and was back up to €479.25/t on Tuesday and on Wednesday afternoon was at €479/t.

Reduced production in the EU remains a concern. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board in the UK reported that winter oilseed rape in good or excellent condition was up 2% to 49% since April, but is below last year’s figure of 63%.

Native prices

On Friday, Dairygold offered growers €200/t for green barley and €218/t for green wheat at harvest. However, reports from this week place November dry barley at €220/t, which would place the green price below €200/t if taken.

On Wednesday of this week Tirlán offered growers €190/t for green barley at harvest. The Barley harvest has started in parts of Europe. We’ll watch how it progresses.