Monday Market Briefing - 13th July 2026

Markets were very quiet all week before suddenly jumping £6 higher on Friday afternoon. With a lot of news stories landing suddenly together it was one of those moments where we didn’t quite know which one we were reacting to. In no particular order, the Straits of Hormuz are closed again, Ukrainian strikes on Russian shipping may cut off some Black Sea grain shipments, the USDA report trimmed ending stocks of wheat and corn slightly and European corn crop ratings edged lower. Things should become clearer this week, but if this latest spike is anything like the last several we’ve had in recent months, it wants selling into.

The French harvest is flying , well ahead of schedule with lots of wheat and spring barley now in the barn. Overall yields down there are disappointing but it does seem the further north they move the better it gets. Perhaps that bodes well for us, early group 1 results into Shoreham are extremely good quality with bushel weights mostly over 80kg and proteins in mid 13’s. We await the spring barley crop with interest, premiums are opening up for this season and beyond, only caveat there might be if the improving quality trend moving northwards is a real trend, we might see another glut of Scandinavian material again this year ? Either way, look after your spring barley it’s not likely to end up in the feed bin this time.

UK Markets have always been built around using old crop throughout July – new crop could not be relied on for that position, two very early harvests in a row now will start to influence that thinking, commercial stores will need to be emptied earlier etc. At the start of the season it can mean early markets are relatively limited , if you might need movement in July- August speak to us asap as we have openings for everything at this stage but it will all fill up . Storage options are also still available and with the carry forward 2027 prices are enticing to say the least. Call the grain office if you want to have a look at these options.

Have a good week.