How much more can you make for your grain with Hectare Trading?
2-MINUTE READ
At Hectare Trading, we’re committed to helping farmers get the best possible price for their grain. But exactly how much more could you really be earning?
Let’s look at three different comparisons we can make to measure the benefit of selling grain through Hectare Trading:
Whether our prices beat the market average (based on the AHDB Corn Returns)
The gap between the highest and lowest prices for each of our listings
How our ex-farm prices vary from futures prices
Compare your price to the market average
Each week, AHDB surveys UK grain buyers to establish the average ex-farm sale prices for wheat, barley and oats across different regions. These Corn Returns are a handy benchmark to see what farmers in your area are typically getting paid.
When you sell via Hectare Trading, you can compare the best price you’re offered to the AHDB Corn Returns for that same week and region.
Take feed wheat, for example. Looking at all feed wheat listings on Hectare Trading in 2024, sellers received a significant improvement over the AHDB average across the UK.
In Scotland, sellers achieved a best price of £5.34 per tonne more than the regional AHDB average price, while in the Midlands and Wales they achieved £5.45/t more.
All feed wheat listings in 2024: best offer price received on Hectare Trading compared to AHDB regional average
Another question to ask is: how often do farmers selling on Hectare Trading receive at least one offer price that is greater than the comparable Corn Returns price for the same week and region?
Again, for feed wheat throughout 2024, at least one offer came in higher than the comparable Corn Returns price 77.7% of the time.
Breaking this down by region, we can see that, in the Midlands and Wales, that figure rose to a whopping 83.4%.
All feed wheat listings in 2024: percentage of listings with at least one offer higher than the relevant AHDB Corn Returns price
Look at the range of offers
When you list your grain on Hectare Trading, you’re not stuck with a single offer. You’re opening your sale up to a marketplace of buyers, all competing to secure your crop.
This healthy competition creates an offer range: the difference between the lowest and highest offers on any given listing. You’ll see this figure quoted on all completed listings.
We can calculate the average offer range for each grain type across the whole history of Hectare Trading. This represents the advantage of shopping around to get a better price.
The average offer range is £5.25 for feed wheat, £7.20 for feed barley and an incredible £10.47 for oats. More buyers means more competitive offers, putting you in control of your grain marketing.
All listings on Hectare Trading: average range of price offers by crop type
What about futures prices?
Futures prices aren’t a perfect comparison to ex-farm prices – they don’t include haulage or the regional supply-demand factors that merchants take into account – but they’re still a good barometer for where the market is heading.
When local ex-farm prices climb above futures prices, sellers can make the most of that gap.
Last month, we reported a striking £12/t swing for spot feed wheat in the Midlands – moving from £3 below the nearest ICE futures contract in July 2024 to £9 above by June 2025.
For farmers who keep an eye on the futures market, Hectare Trading offers another way to benefit when local prices rise.
A better deal for you
Whether you compare your price to the market average, look at the range of offers you receive or benchmark against the futures, there’s a clear price advantage in selling through Hectare Trading.
However you measure it, getting a wider range of offers gives you greater choice and more reward for your hard work. That’s the Hectare Trading difference.
Ready to see the difference for yourself? Contact our team today and we’ll help you take control of your grain sales.
This article is for general information only and is not an instruction to trade. While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the content at the time of publication, Hectare Trading makes no guarantee regarding the data provided.