Grain trade warning as soya meal price surges

Animal feed merchants have warned that price levels could become unsustainable for intensive livestock farmers.

In a letter to Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) said soya meal prices are now close to €500/tonne, and wheat reached €230/tonne last Friday.

IGFA, representing the Irish grain trade, feed manufacturers and shippers, urged Mr Coveney to intervene at EU level, where a two-year delay in authorising MIR162 , a genetically modified (GM) maize, as an animal feedstuff in the EU is blocking maize by-product imports from the US. In April, IGFA alerted the minister and his officials to the expected loss of 20 million tonnes of soya bean due to drought in South America, equivalent to nearly 60% of EU soya meal imports.