Thursday and Friday of last week were busy days for grain prices, as the two biggest co-ops announced their harvest prices for 2025.

These prices are green prices, based on a moisture content of 20%.

Tirlán came in with €190/t for barley and €200/t for feed wheat. These prices include a €10/t trading bonus.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dairygold came in with €188/t for feed barley and €198/t for feed wheat. These prices include a €5/t trading bonus.

The co-ops are €8/t to €10/t behind Centenary Thurles Co-op’s prices announced in September.

At least one merchant has matched the Tirlán prices, including the €10/t bonus.

A large number of merchants look to be paying €185/t for barley, with €10/t added on for wheat.

Importantly, merchants matching the co-op prices or coming close to them do not require farmers to purchase inputs in most cases.

Some merchants are reported to be starting at €180/t for feed barley.

You can read more details on the prices and what they mean for Irish tillage farmers on page 8.

You can also read some information on grain markets from the R&H Hall conference on pages 36-37.

Dan Basse of AgResource Company expects grain prices to remain around the cost of production for the next three years without a weather event or another outlet for grain like energy production to reduce the amount of supply in the market.

As farmers continue to sow, it is important to note that demand for feed oats remains low and merchants are looking for export markets for grain currently in store.

World prices

Meanwhile, in global markets, US wheat, corn and soybeans all fell last week and gained slightly this week.

French wheat for December moved up to €190.50/t (dried) on Tuesday evening, the first time it’s been at this level since the end of September.

French oilseed rape for November closed last week at €466.50/t (dried), up €8.50/t on the week before. That price moved down by €1/t by Tuesday evening. Demand in other oils is helping the rapeseed market.

In the US, the government shutdown means that there are still no reports on crop progress. However, Reuters has carried out a survey of analysts who estimated that the maize harvest was 44% complete this week, while 58% of soybeans are estimated to be harvested.

An estimated 66% of winter wheat has been planted. These figures are slightly below the same time last year and are behind the five-year average for the time of year.