Last week saw grain prices take a hit. MATIF milling wheat hit a low of €198.50/t – its lowest since September 17, when it hit €198/t.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat also slumped. It hit 499.75c/bu last Tuesday (October 30) and only managed to reach 508.75c/bu by the weekend.
Around the world
The latest cereal use statistics from the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) show that wheat usage in animal feed production reached its highest level for September at 456,800t.
Maize usage also increased by 24% year-on-year to 35,400t. However, barley use was down by 11.5% year-on-year to 94,800t.
In the US, the spring wheat harvest (hard red wheat) is set to increase by 53% from 2017. Last year, drought had a serious effect on the crop, but this year yield and quality are good and the harvest is set to reach 16 million tonnes, according to some reports.
Corn harvest is progressing in Ukraine. In the past number of years Ukraine has accounted for approximately 60% of EU imports of corn.
LIFFE
LIFFE wheat – for November – stayed relatively stable last week. It started the week on Monday (October 29) at £172.35/t and finished at £172.25/t (November 2), dropping to £171.00/t on Wednesday. On Monday (November 5) of this week that price had dropped to £170.05/t.
MATIF
The MATIF wheat price for December dropped to its lowest since September 17 last week. On Wednesday (October 31), the price stood at €198.50/t. It recovered by the weekend to €200.75/t and opened this week at €200.25/t (Monday, November 5).
CBOT
CBOT wheat for December has recovered somewhat from its lows of late-October. Having hit 487.25c/bu on October 25 the December price reached 508.75c/bu on November 2. It dropped slightly at the beginning of this week to 507.25c/bu.
