Glanbia announced its 2017 grain prices today (Thursday, October 12).

The feed barley price announced is €147/t, while feed wheat was announced at €157/t at 20% moisture content. These prices include Glanbia’s member bonus of €14/t.

Glanbia has also announced a €7/t fertiliser rebate, on purchases from Glanbia by members of the co-op, as part of its 2017 members’ Support Package.

Glanbia’s prices for harvest 2017 are detailed in the table below and exclude VAT.

Glanbia member price (€/t) Non-member price (€/t)
Feed barley 147 133
Malting barley 169 155
Feed wheat 157 143
Equine oats 157 143
Standard food-grade oats 183 169
Gluten-free oats 197 183
Un-contracted feed oats 137 123
Oilseed rape 364 350
Feed beans 172 158

Glanbia is Ireland’s largest buyer of native grain and took in a total of 190,000t of green grain this harvest.

The announcement comes as Glanbia acknowledges the challenge that has faced the Irish tillage sector over the past number of years. This was noted by Glanbia Ireland chairman, Henry Corbally. He said:

Glanbia is committed to helping our grain growers through this challenging period of over-supply in global grain markets. We have today announced a set of strong grain prices to support our grain growers.

20% of all grain sold to Glanbia was forward sold this year. There are also a number of different contracts available to farmers to produce higher-grade products. As a result, Glanbia has stated that the average price paid to its co-op members this year will be €160/t.

“Our strategy for a number of years has been to move as much grain as possible out of commodity markets and into premium niche categories,” he added.

grain prices

Image source: Shane Casey

“Almost 40% of our total intake now attracts some level of premium or bonus; this is worth around €2 million in total to growers compared to the equivalent non-contracted grains. This is a far higher proportion of overall grain contracted than any other buyer in the country.

For example, across all contracts, the weighted average price paid for barley to Glanbia Co-op members this harvest is €160/t (including transport).

These prices come a week after Dairygold announced its prices – of €145/t, €153/t and €140/t for feed barley, wheat and oats respectively – after a €5 loyalty bonus.

grain prices

Image source: Shane Casey