Organic arable price data
Survey date: 09-05-2012
|
Commodity (Feed/£/Tonne) ex farm |
May-12 |
|
Wheat |
£255 |
|
Barley |
£230 |
|
Oats |
£240 |
|
Tritcale |
£238 |
|
Beans |
£300 |
Feed Price
All prices above indicated feed value of material ex-farm for movement for the next month. These results are averaged from information collected from key producers, traders and feedmills. Prices serve as a guide only - actual prices will depend on volume, availability, quality and supply.
Milling Price
Milling samples of oats and wheat currently attract a premium of £30-50/t ex farm dependant on quality.
For a list of organic grain merchants send a request - together with your name and producer membership/licensee number - to
producer.support@soilassociation.org or call 0117 914 2400
Spring Market Review - 2012
The exceptionally dry weather has been causing real concerns, with the drought already impacting on growing conditions in the eastern half of the country. Let’s hope that some decent rains have fallen by the time this magazine arrives with readers.
The dry winter has also led to subdued demand for organic cereals over the winter, with limited spot trading over what was already contracted. This has caused some frustration among those producers who were looking to move stocks before Christmas to clear barn space. However, malting barley, milling wheat and oats have all seen better movement, with milling oats widely sought after – resulting in good prices being offered.
As a result of the strong demand for oats, and the fact that an increasing number of mixed farms appear to be moving to growing barley for feed, organic seed suppliers have reported strong demand for these crops for spring sowing. Interestingly, however, all seed suppliers remarked that overall organic cereal seed sales were down on the previous year.
While this reduction in organic cereal seed sales might indicate a greater reliance on farm saved seed, it’s far more likely to represent an overall reduction in the area of organic cereals being planted for 2012. If thearea planted is down this yearit’s likely to impact on organiccereal prices from next harvestonwards, particularly as organic pig and poultry (meat) numbers appear to be largely levelling out. Indeed, news that supermarketshave reported a 2.6% increase inorganic chicken sales may give cause for some optimism.
Tim Perrett is senior producer adviser at the Soil Association