Feed wheat prices continue to slacken

Feed wheat prices have continued to slacken this week as farmers hold on to their remaining crops.

November ex-farm prices had dropped to £142/t on Monday (29 October), as demand both within the UK and in Europe lessened.

“The market dropped away quite a lot last week, and not many are selling at these levels,” said Shropshire Grain’s John Sturt.

‘Extremely slow’

“There were reports that the Russians would export more than they thought, which dropped the market, but towards the end of last week it had started to recover.”

Mr Sturt said a lot of the UK’s feed wheat forward crop had already been forward sold and with futures prices hitting £150/t for January and February, many farmers were willing to hold onto their remaining crop until then.

Grainfarmers’ Simon Ingle said trade was “extremely slow”.

‘Lacklustre’

“The market is lacklustre – farmers have sold what they want to already and there is very little incentive out there to buy or sell.”

Mr Ingle said feed wheat was currently £150/t, while milling wheat was £175/tonne.

January feed wheat prices were trading at £153/t, while £156/t was achievable for March 2008.

“I would be surprised to see a significant change for the foreseeable future. If there is any strong buying it will be to take cover for the second half of the year.”