French wheat for December was at €207.50/t on Wednesday afternoon. It closed at €201/t on 16 February and has been in the green since 18 February.

In the UK, prices also picked up slightly, but declined this week. The May price for London wheat was at £167.80/t on Wednesday afternoon.

The AHDB reported: “Compound feed demand is expected to stay elevated over the next 12 months, underpinned by tight forage stocks and broadly supportive livestock margins.”

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This may help to spur demand for Irish grain in sheds as there will be more demand for UK grain. Large stocks of Irish grain remain in sheds, with low demand reported for it.

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture held its outlook forum. The report said that early expectations are for the spring planted corn, wheat and soybeans areas to decline.

The total area for these crops is estimated at 224m acres, down 1%. The report estimated that season-average prices will rise slightly.

Corn production is expected to drop 7%, so this is something that could affect wheat and barley prices here.

Reports of dryness and winter kill in the US are a watch point in wheat markets, although there were reports of improvements this week. US wheat prices moved down this week.

Malting barley

Malting barley prices had been increasing in Europe, but dropped slightly this week. Improved weather in France for planting probably played a role in this.

Oilseed rape

Last Thursday, November oilseed rape prices in France hit €476/t. The last time this price was hovering around this range was July 2025.

Oil prices and unrest are probably impacting on these prices.

On Wednesday afternoon, the November Matif price was €471.75/t.

To put some indication of the scale of Irish tillage farming into perspective, market analyst with Zaner Ag Hedge Karen Braun posted last week that “a 28km line of trucks waiting to deliver soybeans has formed outside Brazil’s Miritituba river port”.

Braun reported that the distance from Sinop, a soybean-heavy producing area in Mato Grosso to the port, is about 1,000km.

Native prices

Dairygold offered growers green prices for harvest 2026 this week. Feed wheat was at €190/t, feed barley was at €185/t and oilseed rape remained at €445/t. Barley has increased by €5/t since the last offer.

A minimum price of €230/t is still available for feed beans (green) once agreed with your area sales manager.