CROP GROWTH is still being held back by frosty nights and some cold winds through the day, when we should be seeing crops burgeoning forth at this time of year.

In the Borders, we have recorded only 5mm of rain in the last 28 days – though, for the year to date, we have had 359mm or 14 inches of rain, compared to last year at this time when we had 141mm or 5.5 inches.

What we really need is a steady night’s rain, followed by some heat – now, that would be ideal for the recently sown spring crops and give a big boost to backward winter-sown ones too.

Potato planting is now progressing well and already, way down in Cornwall, lifting of early potatoes has started, though they are only token amounts at the moment.

Good planting conditions elsewhere in the world have seen US corn planting rated at ‘75% complete’ and soya bean planting is also well advanced, at 10% in the ground. That kind of news makes the market jittery, but with wetter weather in the US Mid-west, this may halt corn planting and see soybean area increase.

So, the cereal and oilseed rape markets continue to remain volatile, for several reasons. In the United States, Chicago wheat prices dropped £12.70 in one day as reports of increased maize planting at 50% completed came through, compared to the five year average of 22%.

Also the US winter wheat crop is currently rated as 69% good to excellent compared to 45% last year at this time. China has bought 115,000 tonnes of US maize for the first time in four years and saw a 3% rise in maize prices and also increased wheat price levels once again.

A weak dollar later in the week saw US wheat futures rise by £4 as oil prices firmed as well, but with the state of the world’s financial problems prices fell away again once more.

In the UK, new crop wheat prices remain at a £15 premium to last autumn’s 2009 crop levels, so there is scope for values to drop yet again as harvest gets nearer. We are looking at a global wheat crop of around 658m tonnes and usage total of 654m tonnes, which will result in a nine-year high total of 199m tonnes and some say it could be nearer 205m tonnes.

So, there are some mixed stories or rumours out there and this will keep fund managers and merchants on their toes. The November 2010 LIFFE wheat futures gained £2.50 in the past seven days to stand at £106, and for November 2011 were up 40p to £114. May 2012 futures at £122.50 could be worth a punt if only for a small percentage at this time.

A large fire in a German rape crushing factory forced it to shut down and that was the reason for the OSR market to collapse by £10 per tonne.