Jonathan Lane, Gleadell’s trading director, comments on the OSR market

Wet weather continues to hamper the rapeseed harvest in Northern Europe. Crops that have been cut have yielded well and the European crop is now being pegged at 21.9mln t.

There have been some short-term logistical issues, creating some good spot opportunities. However, with Black Sea cargoes on the water destined for Dutch and German crushers, these opportunities will quickly disappear.

The UK crop has also yielded well and with a crop of 2mln t we will now need to find some export opportunities.

Current UK domestic prices are too high compared to the Continent and, whilst the global rapeseed market may need to ration demand in the second half of the campaign, UK domestic values need to come down relative to the European market.

Global oilseeds markets continue to suffer from the rollercoaster that is being created by the weather story gripping the US mid-west.

Prospects for the US soybean crop are wide ranging, with the western Midwest in much worse condition than central and eastern areas.

The weekly USDA crop condition reports have been showing continual declines since the last monthly report in July. The market is anticipating a sharp drop in predicted yields in the 10 August update.

The next significant market trend is likely to come out of this report. Until we see the USDA numbers, we will continue to see this choppy market.