Wheat prices soar: shoot feed bills rise

Speculation on the wheat market will have an impact on shooting feeds

By Joe Dimbleby

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

The global wheat prices hit nearly £170 per tonne earlier this month — BASC urges shoots to review efficient wheat use

Wheat prices for delivery in November reached more than £150 per tonne last week, leading to concern that shoots will be hit with big feed bills this winter.

Speculation on the wheat market has led to wheat prices soaring after Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement of a grain export ban. This comes after the worst drought in the country for more than 50 years. Trading on the London futures market hit £169/t for November delivery earlier this month, almost 60 per cent on the price a month earlier.

“I have heard some scary figures of the price per tonne for wheat,” said BASC’s head of gamekeeping Tom Blades, “but a lot of the impact of prices like that depend on whether shoots have preordered their wheat. These prices won’t have an impact on pellet prices for this season, as that is done and dusted, but certainly people need to be aware of the possible effect on next year’s prices.”

The rest of this article appears in 18th August issue of Shooting Times.