MILLING WHEAT premiums have slipped back from Easter highs, but are still holding up well, traders report.

Prices have been buoyed by millers scrambling to cover Group 1 and 3 wheats for July and August, according to James Maw at grain merchant Glencore.

“For Group 1s, delivered prices are at £101/t, although haulage and commission could take as much as £13-16/t off that.

“There are simply more buyers than sellers for 13% wheats, and values should remain at similar levels for the rest of the season.

“Prices in the north, where premiums are highest, are close to import parity, bringing German A wheats into the UK.”

Simon Ingle, Grainfarmers‘ head of milling wheat said premiums for Group 1s were between £18 and £23/t.

“In addition, Group 3 premiums, for those who didn‘t suffer as a result of the poor harvest, are quite extraordinary at up to £8/t for what would normally be little more than feed value.

“It will be a huge logistical task, hauling milling wheat from the south to the north ensuring old crop cover throughout July and August. 

“Farmers do not want to hold stocks into the new harvest period, so we need to build sufficient commercial stocks now to help us service millers‘ requirements.”

Following DEFRA‘s recent release of figures from the Dec census showing wheat plantings down, values may hold up into the new crop, said Richard Jenner, group marketing manager at Centaur Grain.

“There is enough old crop to go around, but it will be tight all the way through the rest of the season.

“And going into next year, plantings are down for Group 1 wheats. Group 2s are up, but with the likes of Einstein, which isn’t universally accepted by the millers.”