Malting barley export prices hit €255 a tonne
Very firm prices are reported in Britain for malting barley. In the EU, low yields and high nitrogen levels have affected the malting barley supply.
A similarly tight market is on the cards for other grains, and Irish importers will find supplies harder to source if yields of the home-grown crop fall 10% due to bad weather, which would make Britain an importer rather than an exporter of feed wheat. In the EU, prolonged rainfall in the west and north, and extreme drought in the east, have hit crops, and the intervention stores from which the European Commission released 12 million tonnes last autumn are not available this year.
The EU milling wheat market is equally under-supplied, with futures prices at nine-year highs.
Weather has also pushed up barley prices in Europe, but an expected recovery in Australia’s crop should boost the supply later this year.
Britain, Germany, France and Poland have all reported significant declines in oilseed rape production, leaving a tight EU-27 supply and demand picture, which may leave the bio-diesel sector struggling.
The only good news for the animal-feed-compounding industry is that maize prices have retreated to nine-month lows. On the other hand, ocean freight rates have advanced to new highs, further adding to grain importers’ costs.
