UK and global grain prices have weakened further over recent days, the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) has confirmed.

November 2026 futures’ markets in the UK fell by £6.25/t or 3.4% during the week ending Friday, June 5.

Grain markets were mainly driven lower last week by good US crop conditions, steady planting progress of spring crops, and harvest pressure as northern hemisphere harvests commence.

Despite some lingering support from the recent drought in the US and concerns about tighter global wheat availability, this was not enough to offset the bearish sentiment, AHDB said.

US harvest pressure is feeding into global pricing as Oklahoma and Texas wheat harvest is well underway.

Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that 67% of US maize was in good or excellent condition, the first estimate for the 2026 campaign. This is marginally down in comparison to the same point last year of 69%.

The condition of this crop is going to be a huge sentiment driver over the next couple of months.

There are widespread rains forecast over the US Midwest over the next week, which will support germination and crop development and could possibly continue to weigh on global markets.

Wheat

In other news, last week agricultural consultancy IKAR raised Russia’s wheat estimate to 91.5Mt, increasing by 1.5Mt on previous estimates.

However, French wheat crop conditions (by June 1) were revised down, with 76% of the crop in good or excellent condition, compared to 78% the week prior. This was after the record-breaking heatwave over the last couple of weeks.

In South America, Argentina’s wheat crop is being sown at record pace, with 32.4% of the total area sown just weeks into the 2026 wheat campaign, 12.4% ahead of the five-year average.

Over the coming weeks, focus is going to be on northern hemisphere harvest progression, which could continue to weigh on grains.

In July, focus on the US maize crop will be a sentiment driver for price direction in the longer-term. Currently, prospects are looking positive for large US spring crops.

Irish tillage

Meanwhile, Irish tillage farmers have started to gear up for harvest 2026.

Weather permitting, combines could be rolling in around four weeks’ time.

The continuing spell of broken weather has allowed all crops to recover from the record breaking dry conditions that characterised the second half of May.

Spring crops will also have benefitted from the return of the rains.

However, growers will be wanting a period of dry weather at this stage to allow them get on with the harvest in a stress-free manner.