EU Wheat Sets Fresh 13-Month Lows

EU wheat futures set fresh 13-month lows Friday before settling with London Nov feed wheat £2.75 lower at £114/tonne and Paris Nov milling wheat EUR4.50 at EUR172.50/tonne.

On the week Paris Nov has fallen EUR13.50/tonne and London Nov £6/tonne.

Paris Nov corn closed Friday EUR5 lower at for a loss of EUR20.20/tonne on the week. Paris rapeseed closed EUR3.50 lower for a loss of EUR20.25/tonne on the week.

The dullest August on record, combined with the fifth wettest summer ever, have conspired to make this year’s campaign in the UK one of the most difficult in recent memory.

Quality remains a big issue for what wheat (generally estimated to be 30-40% of the crop) has still to be cut.

Whilst much of our crop is still in the field, final output is still uncertain, but estimates are creeping higher with some figures as high as 18mmt. This means that the UK is likely to have an exportable surplus of 3.5-4.0mmt this season

The French corn harvest will soon be starting and that is adding pressure to feed wheat and barley.

Whilst UK wheat is competitively priced relative to French wheat the six million dollar question is do foreign buyers want the kind of quality that we've got?

Stores are full and driers are working flat out to get moisture levels down from 19-20 percent and more.

With fuel costs where they are wheat at 19% moisture is costing more than £10/tonne to get it down to the required level of 15%, said one trader.

However what grain has been cut seems generally to be yielding fantastically well. This season's barley crop has been called “the best ever, in terms of yield and quality” with yields of 2.8mt/acre compared with an average winter barley yield of 2.5mt/acre and spring barley at 2.1mt/acre.