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All articles about Markets and trends

Market volatility is a major challenge for farmers, so keeping up to date with movements in commodity prices and input costs is more important than ever.

Our markets and trends page allows you to easily track the prices of the main commodities – from grains and pulses to milk, cattle, sheep and pigs.

 The page includes:

  • Grains, oilseeds and pulse prices
  • Deadweight and liveweight livestock prices
  • Prices of key inputs
  • Farms for sale and latest farmland trends
  • News and analysis of key market trends and prices

Advice and tips

BUSINESS CLINIC

Business Clinic: Protecting farm business from volatility

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Here, Tom Atkins from Savills’ food and farming team offers advice for those wanting…

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Archive

CROPS MARKETS AND PRICES

Droughty harvest balanced by rising grain prices

Further grain price rises are likely as global weather conditions and impending trade wars continue to play out, says COFCO UK trading director Stuart Shiells. The closing words of the…

Farmer Focus: Fixed contracts offer relief from beef price crash

During the past few weeks it's been gorgeous outside, but as dry as I can remember in April for quite a while. We got our maize drilled in mid-April and…

Get better pulse returns despite more crop hitting market

Peas and beans are enjoying a resurgence, with the three-crop rule and decline of oilseed rape driving a big increase in planted area this year. Bean plantings are likely to…

Volatility: Nothing new for farming - but is it the worst we've ...

The undisputed farming buzzword of 2014 is volatility. You can’t attend a conference or flick through the farming press without hearing how sharp ups and downs are here to stay…

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Insights

NEWS

Survey: Farmers hopeful despite longer term uncertainty

More than three-quarters (76%) of farmers feel fairly or very optimistic about their business prospects in the next six months – despite the obvious challenges caused by a lack of…

CROPS MARKETS AND PRICES

Droughty harvest balanced by rising grain prices

Further grain price rises are likely as global weather conditions and impending trade wars continue to play out, says COFCO UK trading director Stuart Shiells. The closing words of the…

LAND MARKETS

Summer land launches feed much-needed supply in Scotland

Plenty of farmland in Scotland has hit the market after a slow first half of the year. Wet weather in the spring put paid to plans for several launches of…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Analysis: Why is the red meat sector consolidating?

With the closure of the 2 Sisters deal, 60% of cattle slaughtered in the UK and Ireland will be handled by just three companies – ABP, Dawn Meats and Kepak.…

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News

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Cheap imports drive biggest pig price fall for eight weeks

Pig prices have continued to decline as cheaper imports from the continent put pressure on the competitiveness of UK pork. Low-cost pork from Denmark, Holland and Belgium has been appealing…

CROPS MARKETS AND PRICES

Oilseed rape trade likely to peak by end of the year

Oilseed rape producers should consider marketing a significant proportion of their 2018 crop before the end of the year to capture the highest prices, a trader has advised. Average ex-farm…

TAKING STOCK

Muslim festival lifts demand for older lambs

Lamb prices were stoked by 10-15p/kg this week as some producers saw lambs fitting Qurbani specification make more than £2/kg. A somewhat disappointing July lamb trade has been improved by…

DAIRY MARKETS AND PRICES

Drought impact a major concern for winter milk production

Rising feed costs and concentrate usage as a result of the third driest summer on record will have a severe impact on milk production volumes come October, says AHDB Dairy.…

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Video

MARKETS AND TRENDS

Video: Why China offers UK farmers opportunity

Is China really the big opportunity for British food producers everyone says it is? And if so, how can farmers here get in on the action? I went to there…

MACHINERY

Video: What next after Brexit boom for farm machinery sales?

Business has boomed for auctioneers Cheffins since sterling took a tumble following last year’s UK referendum vote to leave the EU. But there is also an air of trepidation among…

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