A UK plant breeding initiative might be able to identify a class of proteins in wheat similar to that of soy, said a lead researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB).
In the latest cereals supply and demand balance sheet from the EU Commission, production and stocks have been increased for wheat and barley, but it is a different story for maize.
The production estimate for the 2015/16 global wheat crop is 720.3 metric tons (Mt), according to a report from the International Grains Council (IGC), released late last week.
With another good US harvest on the way, grain prices are expected to move lower, although weather conditions in the EU and Canada are likely to prevent them from falling far.
Experts say with more wheat potentially entering the US feed market, there are some hidden costs and factors to be aware of before using it as a feed source.
Prices for corn and soybeans may be about to rise, as some starting crop amounts are down from earlier expectations, said the USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
The margin between world grain production and demand is far too narrow to call, making the market sensitive to weather - both good and bad, said a commodities analyst.
Livestock producers can expect abundant feed grains and subsequent downward pressure on prices as bumper maize harvests are predicted in the EU and the US, and a greater proportion of the EU wheat crop is diverted to feed use.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised its forecast for projected EU feed wheat supplies for 2014/15 by 2.5 million ton in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), which were published this week.
Greater availability, combined with lower open market prices for oats and a historically small wheat crop, has seen a hike in the use of oats in animal feed in the UK in recent months.
Agrana has opened a new €70m wheat starch processing facility in Austria to allow the company to offer wheat starch as well as its existing corn and potato starch ranges.
A leading economist says that industry sources and analysts predicting the Russian wheat export ban will have little impact on EU food prices are “naïve”, and overlook the fact that major futures contracts for Russian wheat are now worthless.
Food manufacturers could be hit by a global shortage of grain and
wheat supplies, as harvest forecasts for the 2002-03 season look
increasingly unfavourable. With global stocks being eaten away,
what remains to be seen is how much...
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!['We are still busy making lots of new materials. We are desperate for partners to help in characterizing them,' - Phil Howell, NIAB [pic: (c) istock,com/veresovich]](/var/wrbm_gb_food_pharma/storage/images/_aliases/news_teaser_medium/5/5/0/3/1203055-1-eng-GB/More-wheat-breeding-and-feed-sector-interactions-needed-UK-researcher.jpg)
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