Feed grain prices rise in narrow range
© Tim Scrivener Feed wheat prices continued to rise this week, gaining just over £1/t on average.
However, the price range between the regions narrowed.
“The market is stuck in a tight trading range with little new impetus to move it significantly one way or the other,” said Gleadell managing director David Sheppard.
“Spot UK prices are attractive given that market shorts are having to pay up to cover requirements, and these still represent good value in a market that lacks any real direction.”
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Ex-farm wheat prices on Friday (30 September) ranged from £118-£122/t for October with feed barley at £103-£107/t.
Wheat averaged almost £120/t, while barley at an average of £104.23/t was up by about 60p/t.
Milling wheat premiums for full spec bread-making samples were averaging about £12/t over feed wheat values on Friday (30 September).
London feed wheat futures values moved little over the week, with the November 2016 contract at £126.90/t at midday on Friday and November 2017 at £133.50/t.
A US Department of Agriculture stocks report was due out late on Friday (30 September) and may lead to price movements when markets open on Monday.
Last week also saw the International Grains Council (IGC) raised its 2016-17 world wheat production estimate by 4m tonnes to 747m tonnes, compared with the 736m tonne 2015-16 crop.
Looking ahead to the 2017 harvest, global winter wheat sowings are likely to change little compared with 2016 despite low prices, said the IGC’s latest report.
Its maize forecast was cut by 3m tonnes to 1,027m tonnes, to bring the estimated total world grain crop to 2,069m tonnes (2002 in 2015-16).
End-of-season grain stocks for the current crop are forecast by IGC at a record 492m tonnes, which is 20m tonnes higher than last season.
The US winter wheat crop is 28% planted, similar to the rate at this date last year, with the crop area expected similar to last year’s low acreage.
Maize yields in France are down because of the hot, dry weather, which is also raising concern for autumn drilling.