EU Caps Wheat Intervention Tonnage

As part of the EU's latest farm policy revamp, ministers have voted to cap the volume of bread-making wheat sold into intervention stores at 3mmt at a price of EUR101.31/tonne.

If and when this quota ceiling is hit, farmers will have to tender to sell their wheat, and EU policy makers will decide at what price further tenders will be accepted, if at all.

It's not quite the end of intervention, but it's certainly the end of intervention as we know it.

Of course, EUR101.31/tonne is well below the current market price for milling wheat, equivalent to around GBP84 at current exchange rates. So the decision is unlikely to have much impact here in the UK, or indeed with our near neighbours on the continent.

It could be more significant in Eastern Europe however. Offers into intervention so far this season, which only started on 1st Nov, have amounted to over 24,000mt, mostly from Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.