According to the calendar, we are still in autumn, but it is almost starting to feel like winter. The corn harvest is over and the first snow has already fallen in the north of the country. The forage trade is also shifting down a gear. By-products are jumping out this week. A strike at Heineken could possibly have consequences for the availability of brewers' grains.
The corn season is over and that means the mood in the market is lukewarm. Livestock farmers have mostly taken their chance during the corn harvest and are now hardly on the market for corn from the silage. Because there is no more fresh corn available, we are switching to preserved corn for the DCA Indicative Price. That is why the DCA Indicative Price is rising to €80 per tonne. These are, we should add, more asking prices than actual transactions.
Although the corn harvest is finished, traditional cover products such as potato press fibres continue to find their way easily. Suppliers have no complaints about the demand for by-products in general. Feed values of the silages are not good everywhere and livestock farmers are looking for supplements to the ration. The DCA Indicative Price for brewers' grains remains stable at €3,50 per percent dry matter. According to insiders, demand is good. A staff strike at Heineken may throw a spanner in the works. It is still difficult to say what the effect of this will be.
The supply of feed potatoes is certainly not great. Seed potato growers are sorting, but there are more pirates on the coast for the oversize or rejected batches. As a result, only a small amount ends up in the feed. The DCA Indicative Price for feed potatoes remains the same at €50 per tonne.
The DCA Indicative Price for straw is rising this week to €175 per tonne. Most traders are not under pressure. Bulb growers are still pulling hardest, but that is a market where not every forage trader is active. Demand from the livestock sector is calm. Arable farmers do not want to drop in price and it is more difficult to get straw from France. That is why the DCA Indicative Price has taken a step up.
The DCA Indicative Price for silage grass drops slightly to €80 per tonne. Regular customers continue to buy, but there are few additional buyers active on the market. There is also little spectacle in meadow hay this week. The market feels stable, characterised by relatively high prices. Supply should also recover somewhat, but demand is not very high. All in all, the DCA Indicative Price remains the same at €195 per tonne. The DCA Indicative Price for grass seed hay remains the same at €180 per tonne, with the comment that little is happening.