The price of grain

[Galena]

I see that Wheat has had the worst harvest in 40 years as reported by the BBC so I suppose this will be similar for Barley prices and we can expect the price of malt to be affected.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I see that Wheat has had the worst harvest in 40 years as reported by the BBC so I suppose this will be similar for Barley prices and we can expect the price of malt to be affected.

I suppose so. That said, we went away for a long weekend in the new forest in Hampshire at the end of June and on one of our walks we walked through three huge Barley fields and it all looked in pretty good nick to me then!

 

[trueblue]

Last weekend's county file the resident farmer was harvesting his crop of Maris Otter which was poor. To make matters worse I heard on radio 4 most of Europe is the same and in the past we would source any shortfall from the EU but as we are leaving we would have almost no chance of any limited amount of surplus. Sourcing from other parts of the world could be pricey.

 

[Richie_asg1]

They are in the middle of harvest here, and all the fields are in good shape with little to no storm damage or flattening. Mostly barley grown here.
Is this real or heresay as a prelude to food shortages quoting this as an excuse?

 

[Galena]

It's a reality so far as wheat goes, but I was assuming barley would likely be the same.

 

[Gingerbrews]

Also reported however that the actual price of wheat is lower now than at the beginning of the year!
Scaremongering story I feel

 

[Sandimas]

Scaremongering story I feel

Hmm I don't think so.

I guess it depends where you live in the country, I'm not a farmer but live within the farming community near Malvern. We have had the most unusual year of weather I can remember. Basically, it started raining in Oct and stopped late Feb, then didn't rain again until Aug. The winter rain resulted in regular floods of farmland and roads, I've lived out here 15 years and maybe have to make detours on my commute once or twice every few years, this winter it was weeks and weeks flooded roads including major trunk routes like the A417. Here's some drone footage a local took

As a result of this, farmers just couldn't get into many of their fields to plough and plant. And when they finally did in March, everything turned bone dry from then onwards, So I really wasn't surprised to see the news, I'm surprised they managed to get any crops round here.

 

[Gingerbrews]

If you look at the futures market for Milling Wheat for next month and 6 months's time, you'll find very little difference.
I don't doubt that the weather has been difficult for farmers, but most of this year's crop will already have been sold.

 

[Brasseur français]

I farm, but not in the UK, (Central France) and this has been a dreadful year for most crops. However the best malt is made from spring barley and its been a (probably) average year for spring crops, most reports seem to say that they are not too bad anyway.

However bear in mind that very little of the price you pay for malt or beer finds its way back to the farmer. A tonne of barley makes 800Kg of Malt. Which is enough for 10,000 pints. Doubling the price of barley would increase the price of a pint by 1 or 2p.

 

[JohnALt20]

I think there’s an element of talking up the market. This happens every year. The biggest impact with be if we leave with a no deal as tariffs are likely to come in. There’s already talk of £350/T on sugar

 

[trueblue]

I think there’s an element of talking up the market. This happens every year. The biggest impact with be if we leave with a no deal as tariffs are likely to come in. There’s already talk of £350/T on sugar

I have been wondering if a no deal will increase the cost of continental hops and grains? I brew mainly with UK ingredients but do use the occasional Belgium malt and although the malt miller is my main supplier I sometimes use the home brew company in Ireland I do hope tariffs won't affect their business.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I have been wondering if a no deal will increase the cost of continental hops and grains? I brew mainly with UK ingredients but do use the occasional Belgium malt and although the malt miller is my main supplier I sometimes use the home brew company in Ireland I do hope tariffs won't affect their business.

We won't put tariffs on EU imports that would be too unpopular but the EU will surely put tariffs on our exports and then the government will blame those nasty foreigners for our businesses going bust.

 

[trueblue]

We won't put tariffs on EU imports that would be too unpopular but the EU will surely put tariffs on our exports and then the government will blame those nasty foreigners for our businesses going bust.

My worry is the EU will put tariffs on their exports to us. To be honest it would not affect me to much but would it hit the Irish companies selling in the UK?

 

[Cwrw666]

There are no export tariffs, only import ones. Any duty payable would be going to the UK government in case of exports from the EU to here.

 

[JohnALt20]

We won't put tariffs on EU imports that would be too unpopular but the EU will surely put tariffs on our exports and then the government will blame those nasty foreigners for our businesses going bust.

I wouldn’t rule it out. The negotiations arnt going too well. I work in the food industry and A lot of companies are preparing for tariffs unfortunately.

 

[JohnALt20]

There are no export tariffs, only import ones. Any duty payable would be going to the UK government in case of exports from the EU to here.

It would be tariffs both ways so I’m hearing which would be an extra 20% in anything brought in and would hamper export opportunities. Sadly we import a lot more than we export as a country. Hopefully sense prevails in these negotiations but it’s been 4 years of positioning so who knows what we are going to get now

 

[Cwrw666]

Of course there are tariffs both ways. Import tariffs. And under world trade regs you have to apply them equally to all countries unless you have a specific trade agreement in place. In other words if your government charges 10% import duty on a car from Korea, then you have to charge 10% on cars from the EU, or anywhere else.

 

[Madhouse]

Spoke to a local farmer just the other day, they were harvesting barley destined for a maltster. He said it wasn't the worst yield he'd seen but the dry weather earlier in the year has meant it's all really stunted and the straw yield's been terrible, other issue is the recent wet weather means the moisture content is high so there's the extra cost of running grain driers.