Monday Market Briefing - 10th August 2020
The south east harvest is rapidly coming to a conclusion, driven by several consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 30 degrees. One more twist in an extraordinary campaign. Wheat qualities have been very good, slightly down on protein, with big bushel weights but in many cases low yielding. It’s exactly the kind of crop millers usually love so there’s all to play for there. Winter oats are not a vintage crop but they’ve mostly made it to 50kg and we can work with them. Spring barley’s look set to be hugely variable on protein and will require careful segregation. The premiums on offer may be modest but with rock solid germs and high retention in most cases, the value on offer is worth pursuing. Get it sampled and pick your way through it will be the mantra. If you are in the catchment area for our Shoreham facility you can send spring barley there in the knowledge it will be accepted at full value, as either feed or malting on test, elsewhere it will pay to know exactly what’s in the barn before you release it – you must avoid costly rejections.
Central southern, and south-western areas seem to be a long way behind the Sussex / Kent farms. A heavy band of localised rain in late May was the probable cause. We wait to see if there is more yield on those farms as a result.
Markets generally saw some harvest pressure last week. There has been fair buying interest particularly for milling wheat’s spot, but enough growers deciding to take the excellent value on the table to fill the homes in. Lack of farmer selling post-harvest seems to be a factor in many European markets and it remains to be seen if we get the same thing here. It’s a dangerous game, as no-one wants to be left holding the baby at the end, but the temptation to go off drilling and forget about the market will be very real this year. Nov LIFFE closed on Friday at almost exactly the same price it was back on the 1st of January (which in every other respect seems an awfully long time ago ) This might seem a trivial point, but £160-2 has proven to be a floor in the market several times since then and there is no reason to think differently this time.
Have a good week and stay safe.