Monday Market Briefing - 20th July 2020

With a dry forecast in place we expect to see early samples of all major winter crops in the south this week,  so far on barley it’s been a story of generally good quality but very mixed yields. Markets held on to the gains of the previous week but, at the upper end of their recent range, it does feel like there needs to be a new story most weeks to keep up the momentum. Last week it was a rumour that China has bought US soft red winter wheat which was unexpected and supportive. We await the next development, Continental wheat harvests are now quite advanced ( France 50% ) so perhaps fresh yield updates could do the trick. There was noticeably more engagement from buyers for new crop than of late and so it might be the demand side that leads the market for a while now.

We expect to see markets sideways this week, possibly edging lower, as attention turns to the UK crop. It’s a good moment to speak to us about August movement opportunities. This year’s band of student samplers will be enrolling with us shortly, and with so much of the southern crop aimed at quality markets its going to be more important than ever to establish accurately the potential of each parcel in the barn if best value is to be achieved and this will be especially true for spring barleys.

There has been some late secondary tillering in a few spring barley crops and this raises the question of glyphosate usage for ripening purposes. For the avoidance of doubt, the use of glyphosate in this way is permitted in the UK. Some destinations – notably Germany - have effectively banned it, and buyers elsewhere will sometimes pay a premium for non-treated barley. So, if glyphosate is used widely, our market outlets will be restricted to some extent. In a nutshell,  you should look to avoid applying glyphosate to spring barley wherever you can, but if there is a clear need to do so -  it is accepted practice.

Have a good week and stay safe.