Grain price: Increase this week

The harvest is a struggle but, on a positive note, grain prices moved in an upward direction this week.

On Thursday evening (August 27), Matif wheat for September closed €2/t higher than the day before at €188.50/t and was almost €3/t higher than Monday’s close of €185.75/t.

An increase in US corn prices due to decreased crop condition and a forecast decrease in summer crop yields in the EU contributed to this increase in grain prices.

Also Read: Is the poor wheat harvest bad for bread prices?

US crop condition

US corn price increased this week as trade talks progressed between the US and China and as crop condition decreased in the field.

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn closed at 327c/bu at the end of last week (on August 21), and at close of business on Thursday evening (August 27) it was at 344.25c/bu.

As of August 23, 64% of corn in the US was estimated to be in good to excellent condition by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – down from 69% the week previous.

Also Read: Corn price hits high as condition decreases

24% of the crop is now estimated to be in fair condition, up from 21% last week, while 12% of the crop is reported to be in poor or very poor condition.

Tariff on corn removed

As US corn price increased, the EU removed the tariffs imposed on the commodity earlier this month. A tariff of €5.48/t was imposed on August 12. This was reduced to €0.28/t on Wednesday (August 26) and was removed on Thursday (August 27).

EU forecasts decrease in summer crop yields

On Monday (August 24), the EU Commission reduced the yield forecasts of its summer crops from its July MARS bulletin.

Yield reductions were forecast for summer crops in France, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, the Benelux countries and Poland and are reported to be due to hot weather and low rainfall.

Also Read: EU revises all summer crop yields down from July forecast