Today’s FeedCast looks at the political influences affecting the world markets as well as focusing on specific feeds available in the UK.

The last few weeks have seen the grains markets fall heavily, this has been driven by the potential talks between Russia and the UN, focused on allowing grain and oil seed to leave Ukrainian ports. Depending on the outcome of these negotiations the prices could continue to fall or rise dramatically and the futures pricing is balanced on a knife edge around this.

From a crop perspective the Ukrainian plantings have gone well and added potential additional stock to world levels. The UK crop is also looking positive, assuming the weather holds for getting it out of the ground. The majority of Europe is also looking positive aside from France, which has suffered severe weather resulting in a downgrade, with more to potentially come. The US remains questionable with periods of dryness continuing to affect the crop. On top of this Maize is equally worrying with the Brazilian crop recently downgraded. All of this means the grains markets are well supported and you need to think carefully about taking cover and when. 

Protein wise soya remains stable, the US planting has caught up and the national average is back to where we expect it for this time of year. Demand remains strong and this means prices are supported. Closer to home the rape market in the UK is falling, especially in the south, and this is driving demand for the Aug-Apr pricing. In the mid-proteins Vivergo is about to release product and this will cement itself in to the market over the coming months. 

Fibres see SugarBeet remaining firm and hard to buy due to the high demands resulting in more interest around soya hulls and imported sugar beet. 

Risk management is key at the moment and you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. As always if you wish to discuss these issues further please contact your local sales specialist.