Commercial rye stocks reach decade-high in 2019

Finnish industries and grain distributors in 2019 bought a total of 1.8 billion kilos of cereals directly from farms – as much as in the previous year, according to the latest statistics of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Of the total sales volume, rye accounted for 6 per cent, enough to meet the needs of the country’s food industry. At the end of 2019, commercial rye stocks were higher than ever before in the past 12 years.

“Barley made up the highest proportion, i.e. more than one third. The oat volume transferred to the markets was 559 million kilos, 85 million kilos less than in the previous year. Wheat purchases also decreased from the previous year to 427 million kilos. The rye volume was 100 million kilos, being enough to cover its annual consumption,” said Luke Senior Statistician Sirpa Karppinen.

Last year, the average prices of cereals were slightly lower than in the previous year.

According to the statistics, prices of all cereals fell at the end of summer 2019. The average price paid to farmers for basic-quality wheat in 2019 was EUR 175 per tonne, which is slightly lower than in the previous year. Production prices of cereals are monitored on a monthly basis.

The average production price of rye was EUR 168 per tonne, which was 7% lower than in the year before. For barley, the average basic price in 2019 was EUR 166 per tonne, down by 4% from that in 2018. Correspondingly, the average production price of oats was EUR 171 per tonne or 4% lower than in 2018.

In 2019, Finnish industries consumed more than 1.3 billion kilos of domestic and imported cereals. The food industry consumed one third of the total cereal volume, the feed industry nearly half, and other industries used the rest.

The use of cereals in the feed industry in 2019 slid 2% from that in the previous year. The most significant change took place in the use of barley, up by 25%, while the use of wheat and oats as feed declined.

Meanwhile, the food industry consumed 4% more cereals than in the previous year, while there were cereal-specific changes. The processing of unpeeled oats increased to 123 million kilos from 98 million kilos in 2018. The use of rye for food totalled 85 million kilos, showing a slight decline from that in the year before. Wheat had the highest volume (225 million kilos), being at the level of the previous year.

At the end of 2019, industrial and commercial stocks of cereals amounted to 500 million kilos of domestic and imported cereals, being one quarter lower than that in the previous year and the lowest in the decade.

Oats had the highest stockpiles (185 million kilos), down by one quarter from that in the corresponding period of the previous year. Correspondingly, barley stockpiles totalled 136 million kilos, also down by one quarter from 2018. Wheat stockpiles were the lowest in the decade, standing at 89 million kilos, showing a decrease of 50 million kilos year on year. In comparison, rye stockpiles were the highest in the decade (88 million kilos), nearly covering the annual consumption of the country’s food industry.