Wheat markets have continued to ease over the past fortnight, dropping below £100/t ex-farm for the first time since December.

Adequate global stocks and a stronger pound against both the euro and dollar were to blame for the decline, said Glenn Mason, head of committed marketing at Openfield.

“There’s very little business coming forward on the farm side, but equally it’s very difficult to get domestic or export interest.”

The pound had risen to almost €1.13 and $1.5 as Farmers Weekly went to press, its strongest level for more than a month, making British wheat less competitive on export markets.

New-crop values had also weakened, due to benign weather in the USA and Europe, bringing November prices down to about £110/t ex-farm. But although the carry from May to November had narrowed from £13/t to about £10/t, some farmers were still considering storing old crop stocks into the new season, said Mr Mason.

Meanwhile, oilseed rape prices have jumped by £10/t over the past week, buoyed by a stronger soya market in the US. Spot values reached about £250/t ex-farm on Wednesday, depending on location, while new-crop markets improved slightly to about £253/t ex-farm.