Grain markets didn’t do much to excite this week, but there were positive signs for French and US wheat prices.

The harvest is now underway in many parts of Europe, but a clearer picture will develop as the season progresses.

FranceAgriMer released its first projections for the 2020/2021 season on July 7 and forecast soft wheat exports from France to outside of the EU have been estimated to fall to 7.75 million tonnes, down 43% from 2019/2020.

The French wheat harvest has been forecast down 20% from last season to 31.3 million tonnes.

Also in France, barley production is estimated to decrease by 10% from last year to 12.3 million tonnes. Sales of barley to the EU are expected to decline by 17% and exports to third countries are expected to decline by 21%.

UK planted areas revealed

In the UK, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) released the results of the spring planting and variety survey on July 8.

The wheat area in Great Britain was estimated at 1,363,000ha for 2020. That’s a decrease of 25% on the 2019 area.

Unsurprisingly, spring barley area increased. In fact it increased by a massive 52% from 2019, hitting 1,063,000ha. 74% of barley varieties planted were suitable for malting. This is an increase on 2019 when the figure was 56%.

Winter barley area declined by 34% from 2019 to 296,000ha.

Grain markets

This week Glanbia offered its suppliers green prices for September 2020 of €155/t for wheat and €136/t for barley. These prices are before any bonuses are paid to co-op members or for quality.

On the continent this week feed barley (delivered Rouen) was at €167/t on Friday morning, while Free-On-Board (FOB) Creil malting barley was at €178/t.