Markets continue to keep to their recent range. Matif wheat recovered from a drop last week.
The December 2023 price closed at €223/t on Friday 1 December. That was up €3/t on the previous week’s close.
The December 2024 price closed last week at €237.50/t. That’s up €3.50/t on the previous week’s close.
European maize prices declined last week, but oilseed rape increased slightly.
Matif oilseed rape for February closed on Friday at €441.25/t, up from €438/t on the week before. November 2024 Matif oilseed rape closed last week at €451.25/t. That’s up from €449.50/t the previous week.
AHDB conference
The UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) held its grain market outlook conference last week. The outlook was not positive for grains and oilseeds.
The report stated that: “Markets expect ample supplies of feed grain this season.
“In 2023/24, despite losses in global barley and wheat production, total global grain production is expected to grow; a rise in maize output outweighs other declines.
“Global maize production in 2023/24 is pegged at 1.221 million tonnes by the USDA, up from 1.157 million tonnes last season.”
The conference also reported that competitive Black Sea grain continues to pressure markets.
The AHDB said that strong and competitive Russian Wheat exports are expected to continue and noted that: “Ukraine also looks to be exporting more through their humanitarian corridor in November, keeping the flow of grain coming out the country.”
The report also stated: “The stocks-to-use ratio of global grains, however, does look to be slightly tighter on the year at 26.4%, the tightest since 2013/14.”
The AHDB reported that the oilseeds market looks to be heavily supplied. The report stated: “The stocks-to-use ratio of major oilseeds (including rapeseed, sunseed and soya beans) is the highest since 2018/19 at 23.8%.”
Harvest 2024 prices
Tirlán offered farmers €200/t for green feed wheat and €190/t for green feed barley for harvest 2024 last week.
Podcast
On this week’s podcast. the Irish Farmers Journal chatted to Dr Scott Irwin. Scott is the chair of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois.
He recently wrote a book called Back to the Futures: Crashing Dirt Bikes, Chasing Cows and Unravelling the Mystery of Commodity Futures Markets. The book explains grain marketing and futures markets.
You can listen to the podcast here.