After a blip mid-week, the weather looks set fair for the next few days allowing the harvest to proceed at a pace that few can remember across Scotland, according to The Scotsman. There is a good chance that some farmers will complete two harvests within 12 months, something that last happened as long ago as 1959.

This year’s harvest is the best for some time. Yields may not be record breaking, but the quality is generally excellent. Spring barley, apart from areas affected by drought - parts of Aberdeenshire and the Moray coast - has produced an excellent crop with high specific weights. Nitrogen levels are, in the main, low.

However, the great imponderable remains the price for malting barley. The major buyers have yet to show their hand, but many farmers are seeking £85 per tonne or better. Grain in store on farms is sitting at low moisture levels, so growers are under no immediate pressure to move it.

The spot market for feed grain is firm with barley worth about £70-£72 per tonne, which is about £4 per tonne better than ten days ago. The European Union’s decision to suspend subsidies on exports of grain, contrary to fears, appears to have had no impact on prices.

Grain traders reckon that farmers should receive a premium for malting barley of about £15 per tonne. The trade reports a finite market for low nitrogen Optic below 1.5 %, with brewers looking for grain at 1.75 %.

Variable harvests across the continent might boost UK values. Germany and France report mixed quality and German brewers are reported to be seeking medium to high nitrogen malting barley.

Little wheat has been combined in the North-east but further south considerable inroads will be made over the next ten days. Crops are reported to yielding well and quality is good. Prices for feed wheat have firmed considerably in the past week and the ex-farm value is in the region of £90 per tonne.

However, the London futures market has moved up by more than £5 per tonne on the week to £87.45 per tonne for November delivery. That price level is almost 40 % higher than just eight months ago.

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