Tight oat supply means low end of season stocks

Oat supply and demand is set to remain tight for the remainder of this season with stocks forecast to fall to the lowest levels for several years across the EU, says HGCA.

The EU oat crop was down by 12% in 2010, while the UK crop fell by 8% and prices have risen.  The English winter oat area sown by December was down 19% at 67,000ha (165,557 acres), according to a Defra survey, with higher wheat and barley plantings taking area away from the crop. This is the smallest English winter oat area since December 2004 and the spring oat area is also expected to suffer competition from other cropping.

However the EU oat area on an early estimate from Strategie Grains will rise by 7% to 2.9m ha (7.16m acres), with much of the increase expected to come from lower fallow levels, especially in Finland and Sweden.