Delayed Irish harvest may help stocks
(Irish Farmers Journal) -- Broken weather continues to delay the start of the 2008 winter barley harvest with the earliest crops now ripe. It may still be some time before combines get out into fields, with Sunday being the only day to have no rain predicted, according to Met Eireann's forecast in this week's Farmers Journal.
With the European harvest now underway, French barley yields are reported to be good.
Russia also looks set to have a very large harvest (85 to 91 million tonnes of grain predicted), so it would seem that there may be a lot of grain chasing a limited small-grains market this harvest.
It seems likely that we will still have some barley carried over from last harvest, but this is now much less than was originally suggested. Trade sources suggest that this may now be in the order of 60,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes, nearly half what was predicted a few months ago.
The delay in harvesting, if it continues, could further eat into these stocks.
Meanwhile, prices tend to be all over the place. Spot prices for barley have improved somewhat at home but lack of demand remains a factor. Futures markets are fluctuating considerably and even maize prices in Chicago have begun to weaken.
Some people in the trade now suggest that €160/t to €165/t for green wheat, with barley €10/t lower.
With the European harvest now underway, French barley yields are reported to be good.
Russia also looks set to have a very large harvest (85 to 91 million tonnes of grain predicted), so it would seem that there may be a lot of grain chasing a limited small-grains market this harvest.
It seems likely that we will still have some barley carried over from last harvest, but this is now much less than was originally suggested. Trade sources suggest that this may now be in the order of 60,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes, nearly half what was predicted a few months ago.
The delay in harvesting, if it continues, could further eat into these stocks.
Meanwhile, prices tend to be all over the place. Spot prices for barley have improved somewhat at home but lack of demand remains a factor. Futures markets are fluctuating considerably and even maize prices in Chicago have begun to weaken.
Some people in the trade now suggest that €160/t to €165/t for green wheat, with barley €10/t lower.
