Grain markets eased this week, most likely on the back of the USDA’s (United States Department of Agriculture’s) world supply and demand report, which predicted an increased yield of Russian wheat, as well as US corn and soybean.

However, an increase in prices came on Friday – the MATIF hit almost €215/t.

At home, merchants are beginning to talk about price and €190-195/t appears to be a suggested base price for green barley. In addition, farm-to-farm trade continues to be strong on the home front.

Barley prices in the UK

Across the water in the UK, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) estimates that feed barley prices are up to as high as £170.80/t (€190.58/t) in the south-west and down to £162.50/t (€181.32/t) in the east of the country.

Malting barley prices in the UK are currently at £201.80/t (€225.17/t) for premium malting barley, while other malting barley is priced at £198.40/t (€221.38/t).

Malting barley price here in Ireland is linked to the MATIF wheat price for Boortmalt growers. The highest price the MATIF has reached is €216.50/t (August 7) this summer and has dropped significantly since. Whether or not the price will continue to be linked to this price in the future remains to be seen.

Markets surged on Friday

Markets seemed to take a rest in this week, but prices saw a surge once again on Friday.

LIFFE

LIFFE wheat took a drop of £11.25/t (€12.55/t) at the beginning of the week. On Friday (August 10), the November wheat price stood at £197.75/t (€220.66/t). On Monday, that price dropped to £186.50/t (€208.11/t).

The figure dropped further – to £182.65/t (€203.82/t) – on Wednesday (August 15), but recovered to £186.15/t (€207.72/t) on Thursday (August 16). On Friday, the LIFFE wheat price for November showed a rise and closed at £189/t (€210.90/t).

MATIF

On Friday (August 10), the MATIF wheat price closed at €212.75/t. It took a hit on Monday – when it dropped to €206.75/t – but recovered by the end of the week.

The price floated to €208/t on Tuesday and €207.50/t on Wednesday before climbing to €210.25/t on Thursday. By Friday (August 17), the price took a substantial increase and stood at €214.75/t.

CBOT

The story was similar for Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat. At the end of last week, CBOT wheat was at 546.75c/bu (€176.14/t). On Monday, that price had hit 533.50c/bu (€171.96/t), but had recovered to 542.25c/bu (€174.53/t) by Thursday and 560c/bu (€179.73/t) by Friday evening.