THE MARKET price for oilseed rape has been rising since the middle of January and, with the MATIF price now quoted at €291 per tonne for May, 2010, this might be the right time to offload any remaining crop, according to Owen Cligg, trading manager for United Oilseeds Marketing.

Another factor, he says, is the effect of a weaker sterling, which may make or break the decision-making process.

During the same period, the price of crude oil has also increased and, at more than $80 per barrel, many commodity traders have been encouraged to hedge funds against biodiesel. In direct contradiction, Chicago soya values have remained at a similar level to the values traded in the middle of January, 2010. Meanwhile, the value of sterling has continued to fall against the euro, and has further added to the UK’s competitiveness in the commodity food market.

“All in all, we have seen significant firming in oilseed rape prices over the past couple of months,” Mr Cligg said this week. “Now is, therefore, a good time for many growers to think about forward selling their crops.”

He also warned that a number of factors may cause the market to slump later in the year. “There is an oversupply of old crop oilseed rape within the UK that needs to be exported before this year’s harvest commences. And the supply and demand of oilseed rape within the EU has been balanced by imports of up to 500,000 tonnes of Australian rapeseed,” he argued.

“The large carryover of cereals in the UK and EU will also put pressure on storage capacity at harvest time and this will be exacerbated by this season’s larger UK plantings of OSR, which are estimated to be up to 9% up on winter oilseed rape alone.”