Wheat prices jumped up last week, as news of tight supplies in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report sank in.

However, as this week opened, any gains that were made started to fade away.

The Matif wheat price for December finished last week at €243.50/t, up from €236.25/t the week before. By Monday evening 18 September, that price had dropped €5/t and hit €237.25/t on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday afternoon, that price had moved up again to €240.50/t.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board reported that “intense competition” from Russian wheat was a key reason for this fall.

The US maize harvest is now under way and this will be a watch point in the markets to see how weather has affected the crop and whether the big crop which is expected comes.

Meanwhile, Stratégie Grains has raised its forecast for the EU maize crop by about 1 million tonnes to 59.6 million tonnes. This is reported to be due to rain during the summer which helped crops.

Ukraine grain

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary are once again banning Ukrainian grain. Reuters reported that Ukraine plans to sue these countries for the move.

However, the EU’s ban expired on Friday and this allowed the sale of Ukrainian grain across the EU. These countries then implemented their own ban.

Oilseed rape

Matif oilseed rape for November fell on Monday, but recovered again on Tuesday hitting €440.25/t. This was down almost €5/t on last week’s closing price of €444.75/t.

The November 2024 oilseed rape price was at €466.75/t on Tuesday evening this week.

EU rapeseed is plentiful, while there is also a big crop in Canada. Brazil is starting to plant soya beans at present and that crop is expected to be a record. The US soya bean harvest is now under way, so this is something to keep an eye on.

Malting barley

The harvest price for Boortmalt suppliers is due to be settled this week. Last week, the average stood at €284.74/t.

Native prices

At home, spot prices remain similar to last week at €225/t for barley and €235/t for wheat, while imported barley is costing approximately €10/t more.

Some merchants are beginning to settle up accounts with farmers at present.

At Wednesday’s National Ploughing Championships Liffey Mills and Tirlán said farmers could expect to see prices in the next 10 days or so.

Let us know your prices: tillagenews@farmersjournal.ie.