Oilseed rape values tumbled this week on rumours from Germany that the new coalition government was planning to scrap tax breaks for biodiesel production.

Ex-farm values in the UK were back 6-9/t on the week, with most quotes around the country in the 132-135/t range for November sales as Farmers Weekly went to press on Wednesday.

Traders said farmers were sitting on their hands and refusing to bring any more crop to market until prices rose again.

Nick Oakhill on Glencore’s oilseed desk said: “Over the past three days, the MATIF (French futures exchange) has lost 12/t. But it had been due for a correction for some time because it had got out of kilter with other markets on the perceived value of biofuels.”

That meant only about one-third of the price fall was due to the German news, he said, and predicted that prices would not return to recent highs. More important than the price fall was the negative effect it would have on market confidence, he added.