Oilseed rape makes gains on strong global market

New crop oilseed rape is at £310-£315/t ex-farm for harvest movement, buoyed by rising global oilseeds markets.

However, the EU market is facing some harvest pressure so has not risen as much as people might have expected it to given what is going on in world oilseeds markets, said Owen Cligg, trading manager at farmer-owned co-op United Oilseeds.

With yields slightly better than expected, some harvest pressure was expected to continue.

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US soya bean futures have shot up by about £30/t in 10 days (to 12 July), rallying to a near three-year high recently on concerns about crop stress in dry, hot weather.

This is affecting not only US crops but also Canadian output and Australian acreage lost to drought.

On the back of this and tight old crop supplies, Paris rapeseed futures have risen by more than €10/t (£8.90/t) since the start of July.

This sentiment would be maintained while the hot dry weather continued, said Jonathan Lane of Gleadell Agriculture.

The French Ministry for Agriculture and Food has forecast the country’s crop at 4.67m tonnes, 1.5% lower than last year and 8% lower than the five-year average.

As in the wheat market, the UK is not export competitive at current values, with French and Black Sea OSR cheaper than UK seed.

However, some export business had been done for November, said Mr Cligg.

Late August could see some competition from Latvian and Lithuanian rapeseed being brought into the UK.