June 12, 2009
UK rapeseed crop harvest seen down 30 percent
This harvest's rapeseed crop could be almost 30 percent down on last year, according to the latest prediction from United Oilseeds.
Trading manager Owen Cligg said poor establishment and lower planted area last autumn mean the UK crop is likely to be about 1.4 million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes, some 400,000 tonnes below last year's 1.9-million tonne crop.
Cligg said that some crops were looking patchy, but have compensated well and should see reasonable yields, and is expecting to see some variable yields this harvest.
He said parts of eastern Europe - especially Poland, Hungary and Ukraine - had also seen some drought-related problems this season, but France and Germany were expected to have a good harvest which could wipe out some of the potential upward price pressure.
He added that the strengthening of sterling relative to the euro could also remove some of the upward price movements in euro terms for UK growers.
He noted that although there is upward price pressure, but there is a lot of old crop wheat in store and we could find more rapeseed crops sold at harvest as growers look to ease space and cash flow.
Old crop prices were about GBP272 per tonne, with new crop at GBP265-GBP270 per tonne. This compares with GBP300 per tonne this time last year.
US$1 = GBP0.603 (June 12)
