The new crop of straw and grass seed hay has started. Both the prices and the supply do not necessarily deviate from the long-term pattern. However, there is a risk of a sharp division due to the deteriorating weather.
Dutch straw costs €45 to €70 per tonne, ex-land. In North Holland the most is paid for straw and in Zeeland the least.
Rain poses a risk of discoloration
While the barley harvest is largely over, the wheat harvest has yet to get underway for the most part. This is certainly the case in the Groningen grain region. Due to the heavy rain, sometimes very local in character, there is a threat of discoloration of the straw. This also reduces the suitability for use in dairy cattle rations and as moisture-absorbing litter in livestock farming.
This target group is dependent on high-quality straw from abroad. In view of the expected weather conditions, no large quantity of good-quality grain straw will be offered from Germany and Denmark. Although it is still too early to speak of a rain-out grain harvest.
Near Berlin, in East Germany, almost the entire annual amount of 400 to 500 millimeters has fallen in a few weeks. In northern Germany it is also hit and there is even a threat of flooding.
South shows the opposite
The opposite weather reports come from France and Spain. However, chopped Spanish straw in large bales costs €140 per tonne, delivered to the farm (by truck). The price difference, with the domestic supply of good quality straw harvested so far, is large. This offers opportunities for the observant trader, given that the supply of Spanish straw (due to the persistent heat in that region) is faltering.
Hungary is another region where a lot of grain is grown under dry conditions. However, there too, the straw supply shrinks due to the heat. The monthly report of the European JRC Institute adjusted the harvest estimates for, among other things, grain and maize in Central Europe, along the Danube, to quantities below average.