Grain prices are showing an overall improvement in recent days. There have been ups and downs, but, in general, prices look more positive than the past few weeks.

Feeding into this is lower supply expectations as weather affects crops.

Matif wheat for December hit €245/t last Friday 16 June. That is up from €239.75/t the week before. On Tuesday evening 20 June, that price finished at €246.25/t. It was holding steady.

US wheat isn’t something that massively affects Irish grain prices, but it’s interesting to note that one third of the wheat in the US is expected to be abandoned, as it will be too costly to harvest for the yield that is expected from those crops.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in the UK has changed its outlook on grain prices and is now neutral for the next few months on maize, wheat and barley. In its report on Monday, it stated that the potential impact of dry weather and uncertainty about the extension of the Black Sea grain initiative is playing into that.

Dry weather in Spain and northern Europe continues to put some concern over supply in Europe. Wheat, barley and maize are all affected.

Oilseeds

Oilseed rape prices jumped dramatically in France last week. Matif oilseed rape for November increased to €477/t last Friday 16 June. That was up from €438.50/t the week before.

That price was at €473/t on Tuesday evening, so it was back, but improved from recent times. Farmers will no doubt be glad to see an improvement in that price with about 19,000ha planted here - 4,500ha more than last year.

Dryness in the US is giving confidence to soya bean markets, which in turn can help with oilseed prices.

Native prices

At home, prices are at about €235/t for spot barley and €10/t higher for wheat. November prices look to be similar, with wheat a little higher at approximately €250/t.

Soya increased this week to €510/t, up about €20/t on the previous week. This may be due to the concerns about dryness outlined above.

Spot prices into Belfast for feed barley were at £207.50/t on 16 June. November barley was at £213.50/t. The feed wheat spot price into Belfast was at £224/t and November wheat was at £229.50/t.

The Boortmalt malting barley price was on the up last week. The price that contributes to the average was €305/t last week and brings the average price to €266.60/t. Some €10/t has to come off this price as a charge is being applied by the company.