The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) is reporting that Irish wheat and feed barley prices remain in the doldrums.

Feed wheat is in the range €212-€215/t with feed barley averaging €203.

Meanwhile, Paris MATIF wheat futures have remained largely steady between €188-€190/t in recent weeks with no significant moves either side of this range. Dec-25 prices were unchanged last week.

Prices are unable to move above €190/t due to a real lack of bullish factors or supportive news,

However, they have not fallen back either due to firm prices in the Black Sea region which have been supported by reasonable export demand.

Chicago maize futures were slightly supported last week and closed at 2.3% up on the week. The US government shutdown, which is now the third longest on record, has heavily slowed information from state agencies such as US Department of Agriculture.

The harvest in the mid-west is progressing well. While maize and soybean yields do not appear to be as high as predicted before harvest, the maize crop is still expected to come in at a record volume.

Native dried wheat prices for December/January remain broadly similar at €212-€215/t. Dried barley for this period is €203-€205/t with imported maize priced at €212/t.

Global harvests

Grain prices are determined by supply/demand factors. And there seems every prospect of very large harvests being recorded in all the world’s grain growing centres.

According to the IFA, the grain harvest in Russia is progressing well. The most recent estimate for 2025 Russian wheat production projects an increase from 87.5 million tonnes to 88 million tonnes.

Overall, the Russian wheat crop is now significantly larger than forecasted back in the summer months when analyst estimates ranged from 84-85 million tonnes.

Favourable weather conditions in Siberia have produced record yields there. The region produces about 13% of the total Russian wheat crop.

In the meantime, in Australia, harvest has commenced, with estimates for wheat production in 2025/2026 coming at 35.7 million tonnes, up from 34.1 million tonnes recorded in 2024/2025.

For rapeseed, estimates from Western Australia are now pitched at 3.8 million tonnes, up from 3.3 million tonnes that had been projected earlier in the season.

In addition, French winter wheat planting is progressing well due to the recent dry weather conditions across Europe, according to the IFA.

The same trend has been recorded in Ireland over recent days.