Grain prices took a drop last week to levels not seen since March of this year.

Using French Matif wheat as an example, the December price fell to €216/t on Thursday 15 August.

On Friday, it returned to €218.75/t, but on Monday evening that price was back down at €216/t. UK and US prices also dipped at this time.

The last time markets were at these levels was on 18 March when it was at €214.50/t. At that time, the price was actually recovering from a price low of €204.25/t on 6 March and climbed all the way to 27 May when it hit €274/t.

Range

However, since then, that price has fallen and has remained in the €225 to €231/t range from the middle of July until last week when it dropped.

There were some worries in the market last week, with missiles hitting the port of Odessa in Ukraine.

Market reports appeared to think these fears were subsiding and the competitive prices of grain coming from the Black Sea played back into grain markets.

That, coupled with good prospects for the maize crop in the US, are some of the main reasons that markets hit a new low last week.

Meanwhile, in Brazil corn (maize) yields look likely to climb. Production was hit by the El Nino weather event last year.

While some regions were hit by heavy rain in April and May, maize production is forecast to rise by some in 2024/2025 by about 4% this year to 127 million tonnes.

Figure from Brazil’s Conab, which is part of the country’s ministry of agriculture, place the 2023/2024 crop as the second largest in the country’s history. They add up production from the country’s three corn crops, which placed production at 4,561m bushels.

The 2022/23 crop was a record at 5,192m bushels, while the 2021/2022 crop was 4,454m bushels.

Malting barley

Meanwhile, Boortmalt reported that the price contributing to its harvest average price dropped €6/t this week to €245/t. This places the average price at €261.23/t.

However, that price is subject to a €10/t drying and logistics charge of €10/t, so the price lands at €251.23/t.

Prices at home

The drop in markets at present does not bode well for prices on farms, but markets could pick up quickly again.

The last published co-op price offer was at the end of July and was €180/t for green barley and €200/t for green wheat.

At that time, MATIF wheat for December was at around €230/t (dried price).