Orion Farming Group Weekly Straights Update: 30th July 2026

Joe Cobb
Jul 30
3 min read

The figures in the charts are an indication only and reflect levels traded on Wednesday.

For firm prices and availability, please contact Joe Cobb on 01865 393 139

Hipro Soya

After spending last week climbed higher, prices moved lower on Monday due to the weakness in the energy/oil markets as a result of the pause in US/Iran strikes.
This has led to some reigniting of hopes of peace talks and also some profit taking on recently added long positions by the funds.
Adding to the pressure on prices on Monday, there are increased rainfall forecasts for parts of the corn belt for early August.
This is a key time for soybeans and some good rains would help cement the expected big yields.
Soil moisture levels have been dropping recently, so there will need to be some rains to keep price hikes at bay due to yield reductions.
US soybean conditions dropped by 3% to 63% good/excellent.
Chinese buying of US beans continues, providing some further support.

Rapemeal

A similar week to the rest of the markets with firming values until Friday when prices moved lower.
This was in part due to the rumours surrounding Black Sea export routes and also lower energy markets.
Nearby prices are still supported due to lack of availability – due in part to problems with lower Rhine river levels (vessels are able to sail at about 15 – 20% full) and also an inability to bring in Ukrainian new crop seed to crush, (on which the UK and Europe rely heavily).
Whilst the Rhine issues should be a short term issue, it won’t be resolved quickly and may take a couple of months.
The Black Sea issues are much trickier to judge.
Shippers are looking for road/rail routes for seed from the Ukraine, but this obviously adds a larger cost.
With prices as they are, demand looks likely to move away from rapemeal into other proteins that offer better value, (eg. hipro soya, distillers) which could leave more of a surplus for UK crushers.
Prices would still need to move lower than current values to feature for export elsewhere.

Soya hulls

Some moves higher on prices due to increasing demand as a result of dwindling grass across parts of the country.
With expected lower production of sugarbeet this season demand will already be firmer for hulls.
Although there is increasing production of hull across the Americas, the majority of US and Brazilian production goes domestically.

Distillers

US prices were down a little week on week but with oil having moved higher (and then lower) this hasn’t been reflected in imported maize distillers prices.
Wheat distillers values for winter moved higher on the back of high grain values, but it makes it look very dear, (circa £300 ex-port).

Sugarbeet

No news on sugarbeet and imported prices have dried up again.
No sign yet of home produced offers, which is not surprising given the low acreage and the lack of rain recently.
It does raise the question as to how much will even be available.

Wheat/Barley

Wheat markets continued to push higher as the ongoing disruption to shipping in the Black Sea continued for the majority of last week.
It barely stopped for a breather until Friday when prices dropped £6 on futures.
This was down to the rumours of discussions about protecting vessels in the Odesa region and air ceasefires.
The downturn was much more limited on Monday only moving down £1.
As mentioned there needs to be further confirmation on a de-escalation and that exports could resume from the Black Sea before too much out of prices is seen.
Supply remains a slightly lesser factor in prices but UK and European yields have been mixed.
Cuts to production have been seen in western Europe and also in the US which had been keeping a base in prices prior to issues in the Black Sea.

The figures in the charts are an indication only and reflect levels traded on Wednesday.

Hipro Soya

After spending last week climbed higher, prices moved lower on Monday due to the weakness in the energy/oil markets as a result of the pause in US/Iran strikes.

This has led to some reigniting of hopes of peace talks and also some profit taking on recently added long positions by the funds.

Adding to the pressure on prices on Monday, there are increased rainfall forecasts for parts of the corn belt for early August.

This is a key time for soybeans and some good rains would help cement the expected big yields.

Soil moisture levels have been dropping recently, so there will need to be some rains to keep price hikes at bay due to yield reductions.

US soybean conditions dropped by 3% to 63% good/excellent.

Chinese buying of US beans continues, providing some further support.

Rapemeal

A similar week to the rest of the markets with firming values until Friday when prices moved lower.

This was in part due to the rumours surrounding Black Sea export routes and also lower energy markets.

Nearby prices are still supported due to lack of availability – due in part to problems with lower Rhine river levels (vessels are able to sail at about 15 – 20% full) and also an inability to bring in Ukrainian new crop seed to crush, (on which the UK and Europe rely heavily).

Whilst the Rhine issues should be a short term issue, it won’t be resolved quickly and may take a couple of months.

The Black Sea issues are much trickier to judge.

Shippers are looking for road/rail routes for seed from the Ukraine, but this obviously adds a larger cost.

With prices as they are, demand looks likely to move away from rapemeal into other proteins that offer better value, (eg. hipro soya, distillers) which could leave more of a surplus for UK crushers.

Prices would still need to move lower than current values to feature for export elsewhere.

Soya hulls

Some moves higher on prices due to increasing demand as a result of dwindling grass across parts of the country.

With expected lower production of sugarbeet this season demand will already be firmer for hulls.

Although there is increasing production of hull across the Americas, the majority of US and Brazilian production goes domestically.

Distillers

US prices were down a little week on week but with oil having moved higher (and then lower) this hasn’t been reflected in imported maize distillers prices.

Wheat distillers values for winter moved higher on the back of high grain values, but it makes it look very dear, (circa £300 ex-port).

Sugarbeet

No news on sugarbeet and imported prices have dried up again.

No sign yet of home produced offers, which is not surprising given the low acreage and the lack of rain recently.

It does raise the question as to how much will even be available.

Wheat/Barley

Wheat markets continued to push higher as the ongoing disruption to shipping in the Black Sea continued for the majority of last week.

It barely stopped for a breather until Friday when prices dropped £6 on futures.

This was down to the rumours of discussions about protecting vessels in the Odesa region and air ceasefires.

The downturn was much more limited on Monday only moving down £1.

As mentioned there needs to be further confirmation on a de-escalation and that exports could resume from the Black Sea before too much out of prices is seen.

Supply remains a slightly lesser factor in prices but UK and European yields have been mixed.

Cuts to production have been seen in western Europe and also in the US which had been keeping a base in prices prior to issues in the Black Sea.

And finally, totally irrelevant but quite interesting facts of the week…

Cockroach milk is one of the most nutritious substances on the planet and relative to their size cockroaches can run at 210mph

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.

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