Wheat pool prices pip average spot levels
Wheat pool prices pip average spot levels
BANKS Cargills January-March 2002 wheat pool beat the average spot price for the same period by over £3/t, the merchant has announced.
The pool average for farm-assured feed and soft wheat after commission was £77.36/t, while full-specification Grade 1 milling wheat made £92.56 – almost £6/t ahead of the average spot price published by the Home- Grown Cereals Authority.
Grain director Richard Whitlock attributes the success to selling more than half the wheat between August and October last year when the market was at its highest. The pool was sold out by the middle of January before prices fell dramatically due to cheap EU and Black Sea supplies (see graph).
"This strategy has enabled us to achieve results that exceed todays wheat prices by £12/t for feed wheat and up to £18/t for bread wheat," says Mr Whitlock. The April-June pool followed the same marketing plan, so should see similar success, he adds.
While dismal prices have put many farmers off selling this years crop, Banks Cargill committed a large amount of its 2002 harvest pool in December and January when prices were still high. "We have got a larger percentage sold than we had at the same time last year, although we wish we had done more in hindsight," says Mr Whitlock. *