Feed import figures for January this year are now available. Central Statistics Office data shows that imports of some grains are up significantly on the same month last year.
Imports of maize in January 2022 are estimated at 206,288t, compared to approximately 107,893t in the same month of 2021.
Looking back, the numbers indicate that 576,752t of maize were imported from September to December 2020, compared with 455,876t from September to December 2021.
Last year, imports of malt, barley, wheat and maize all decreased significantly, however, as the figures are taken for the months of January to December, they include two different feeding seasons include two different feeding seasons.
It should be taken into consideration that comparing imports between months of the year doesn’t reflect overall import figures for the season. The doubling of maize imports in January may have been a sign of the sector catching up on feed stocks. As maize prices climbed over the past year, this may have contributed to the decrease in imports in 2021.
The increase of maize imports earlier this year could be due to traders taking prices at approximately €280/t last October when they had eased back slightly.
CSO statistics show that wheat imports amounted to 11,862t in January 2022, compared with 2,410t in January 2021. Barley imports for January were at 13,435t in 2022 and 9,212t in 2021. In 2021, total maize, wheat and barley imports amounted to 1,185,193t, 171,953t and 170,765t respectively. They were down 9%, 15% and 18% respectively on 2020.