First quote on malting barley is €165/tonne
Growers angry at €40/t fall
An opening price of €165/t has been offered for malting barley amid continuing uncertainty over prices for feed-quality grains.
The €165/t price, offered by Greencore Malt to growers on Wednesday, is down €40/t on the final price offered last year.
However, malting barley growers are set to attend a meeting in the Dolmen Hotel, Carlow, tonight where they will insist that the malting price must equal last year's €205/t.
"Malting barley is costing €100-120/ac more to produce compared with last year," a spokesman for the IFA said.
"Fertiliser cost has increased by €80/ac, while diesel has increased by 30-32c/l or €24/ac to plough, till and sow the crop. If fertiliser keeps going up, that will cost another €80/ac next year," he added.
With malting price down and costs up, the result would be a €200-220/ac cut in farmers' incomes, he insisted.
Merchants remain reluctant to quote any figures for feed grains as they watch the harvest here and in Europe closely.
British farmers were offered stg£113/t by merchants for dried barley on Thursday. A price of stg£118/t was bid for dry wheat. London futures markets have fallen by stg£20/t over the past month, driven by reports of a big harvest across Europe.
Here at home, prices of €155 to €165/t, excluding VAT, for green grain at 20pc moisture are believed to have been offered last week.
In one instance, a merchant opened with an offer of €140/t before moving to €150/t and then €155/t to secure grain, but was turned down in recent days.
One industry source said it was too early to predict grain price trends yet.
Very little grain has been traded so far, with buyers securing what they need of old crop before they turn their attention to the new crop.
"A lot of money was lost on grain last year. Markets were on a high at harvest time and people are reluctant to set prices after the scorching they got last year," he said.
A grain merchant admitted that volatility in the market made merchants nervous and reluctant to be the first to quote prices for this year.
"Who wants to be the first to come out with a price that's €50/t lower than last year?" he asked. "If I did that in the morning I would be pilloried."
Winter barley yields are reported to be variable, particularly in the northern half of the country.
- Caitriona Murphy
