Monday Market Briefing - 21st August

Harvest in the south of England is nearing completion and the regions dryers continue to run long hours. Quality has held up through the frequent rain showers better than expected and a high proportion of samples are still achieving top grades for both milling wheat and malting barley. Important as the premiums for both are still very high.

Feed markets are very tough and still on the slide although Friday saw an upturn to limit the weeks down-side. It feels like a more stable to slightly positive week is ahead. There is still a small premium for dry, ready-to-load feed wheat and it will be interesting to see if this persists into the first weeks of September as so much of the crop will be in barns needing a bit of air before it can be delivered out safely.  

Unsurprisingly malting barley saw the heaviest activity last week as samples results fly out of the lab and there is a real sense of urgency to capture the pre Christmas slots as soon as quality is known. This market has been inflated by concerns over the Scandinavian crop but early results from there were okay-ish and some of the fever in the premium has diminished.

Have a good week.