FEED WHEAT values have come under further pressure this week (w/e Sept 24), as grain struggles in a market hampered by oversupply.

Grain traders were quoting £55-£56/t ex-farm for feed wheat on Weds, Sept 22.

Julian Bell, economist at the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, said: “Feed wheat has had to compete against other grains such as maize for compounders‘ business.

“Hungary and Poland have brought an extra 12.4m tonnes of maize grains onto the EU market, and with French maize prices now at intervention levels, this has created competition.”

David Sheppard, trading director at Gleadell Agriculture, said the fundamental picture was of a large European wheat crop.

Feed compounders in traditional UK export markets, such as Spain and Italy, had many choices.

“Our 3.5m tonne exportable surplus of feed wheat is nothing special, at 72kg specific weight, 15% moisture and 2% admixture.”

Milling wheat premiums were holding at about £30/t for Group 1 wheats, but traders said top quality domestic milling wheat was hard to find.