Orion Farming Group Weekly Straights Update: 2nd April 2026
- Orion Farming Group
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 8
The figures in the charts are an indication only and reflect levels traded on Wednesday.
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Premiums for nearby product remain in place, as it looks likely that new crop shipments from South America won’t arrive until June or July.
This means existing stocks will need to last for April and May realistically and with cover on the lower side vs other years, this premium looks unlikely to go away.
Further forward summer prices look more reasonable.
The conflict in the Middle East will continue to influence prices, due to the use of soya oil in ethanol and also the cost of production for the crush plants.
There was a reminder that S&D still needs to be considered as China announced an investigation into US trade practices, which is widely seen as a retaliation against a similar investigation from the US that was announced last month.
Trump’s visit to China had already been re-scheduled to May, but it doesn’t encourage the trade to think that relations are improving between the two countries.
With big crops in South America and expectation for increased acreage in the US, they need China on board.
Following hopes that Erith would restart this week, HSE decided it was not to be!
This short notice coupled with strong demand for the beginning of the month and pre-Easter, meant any remaining imported material got bought up across the country as Erith scrambled to secure material for everyone.
The hope is to restart next week, but restarts rarely run smoothly.
Until they are running at full capacity, lower spot prices are unlikely to materialise.
Summer and next winter are offered at more sensible levels, though still at elevated levels vs pre-Iran.
Nearby supply continued to tighten up as new crop shipments are delayed to Jun/Jul.
Ensus has been given government support to restart production, in order to provide security to Co2 production.
There’s no official start date, but the plant is expected to run for 3-6 months.
For May onwards this could provide an opportunity to do some summer distillers, especially whilst imported prices remain stubbornly high.
The market remains very tight with very little to no product available nearby or for the summer.
The market was pushed higher with drought conditions in the US plains coming to the forefront of the trade’s attention.
This could impact spring plantings which will start to happen in the coming weeks.
The trade is also expecting to see lower US wheat acreage in the next report later this week.
The wider conflict in the Middle East and it’s effect on energy prices also continues to support the market.
The UK market in particular saw this directly, as the UK government announced they would provide financial support for Ensus to run for 3 months.
This resulted in a boost to wheat prices as Ensus came in to buy their requirements.
And finally, totally irrelevant but quite interesting facts of the week…….Whale milk has the consistency of toothpaste and more wine is drunk per head in Vatican City than any other country on Earth.
Notes:
All figures in this report are provided by KW and commentary by GLW Feeds. Price indications are based on 29t bulk tipped loads delivered to Oxfordshire and are guide prices only.
For firm prices and availability, please contact Joe Cobb on 01865 393 139
Currency Trends as of 04.02.26 Blue = GBP:USD. Red = GBP:EUR
