Grain market update
20 March 1998
Grain market update
Thursday 19 March, 1998
THE FOB market continued to struggle along without any real future – 72kgs traded at £74.75 FOB for March, which implies an ex-farm price of between £66 in the Midlands and £69 closer to the
ports. The only support on new crop is from the compounding trade, who are holding export prices artificially high.
The Intervention Board reports a total of 1.022 million tonnes of barley being offered into intervention and, with the possibility of a Green Rate revaluation in early May, the total offered could reach 1.2m tonnes by the end of April.
French Intervention offers now exceed a million tonnes, which include 821,000 t of barley and 15,000 t soft wheat.
Chicago finished 3/3¢/bushel lower as export numbers are poor, and on news of heavy snowfall in the US Great Plains.
New-crop Class 2 premium is £4-5/ tonne
Prices at Fridays
wheat futures close:
MONTH
Close
Change
MAR
74.00
-0.15
MAY
75.50
-0.50
JUL
77.50
-0.50
SEP
76.25
-0.50
NOV
78.25
-0.50
JAN
80.25
-0.50
Approximate commodity
values, £/ tonne, ex-farm:
March Class 1 milling 101
March feed wheat 70
March feed barley 66
Harvest feed wheat 70/71