It's not the busiest week of the year for the roughage trade. With the exception of a few scattered patches, the last of the straw has been cleared in the north of the country. The first patches of early corn have been chopped, but the harvest still has to get underway.
What are the prices of corn on the stem doing? This question comes up frequently. However, it's difficult to answer. The price range quoted by traders is very wide. For a piece of very early corn harvested last week, an insider quoted €2.500. Roughly speaking, the price range now lies between €1.800 and €2.200 per hectare. If the corn yields are good, the price could drop somewhat. If it's disappointing, the price could rise somewhat. For corn from the previous harvest, the DCA Indicative Price remains stable at €80 per tonne.
Straw supply is now practically dead. Nearly all forage traders and arable farmers have straw in their barns. The straw yield has been slightly lower than expected earlier in the season. Due to the changeable weather, slightly more straw was chopped, rain while the straw was in the windrows cost some kilos, and the dry growing season simply meant there was less straw available. Livestock farmers who waited to buy because "a lot of straw will become available soon" have made a slight miscalculation. Straw prices were already fixed, and most traders are now charging a higher price for straw delivered from the barn. The DCA indicative price will increase this week to €155 per tonne for wheat straw.
First campaign product on the market
The first potato press fiber of this season has now been delivered. Insiders say demand isn't yet very high. Buyers are also keeping a close eye on the potato market and find press fiber rather high in relation to the potato price. "It's hard to explain that starch and French fries are completely different markets," says a trader. When the corn harvest really gets going, demand for press fiber as a covering will also pick up again, according to some traders. Steam peels and chips from the French fry industry are in short supply. Processors are not operating at full capacity, and this is reflected in the residual flows. Feed potatoes are available in limited quantities this week, and the DCA indicative price stands at €40 per tonne. Brewers' grains remain a stable factor. The DCA indicative price remains unchanged at €3,45 per percent dry matter.
There's not a lot of trade in grass in general. Some livestock farmers are a bit short on silage supplies after this rather extreme growing season, but these are relatively small areas in the Netherlands. The DCA Indicative Price for silage remains unchanged at €75 per tonne. Some livestock farmers have ensilaged relatively young and fat grass with the first and second cuts and are now looking for some extra structure in their rations. Some livestock farmers swear by hammered Spanish straw. However, some are also returning to grass seed hay, notes one trader. Partly because of price, but some also find that cows do better on it. The DCA Indicative Price for grass seed hay this week is €160 per tonne. Most traders offer little to no differentiation by variety.