Wheat accounted for 85% of trading volume on the Novi Sad Commodity Exchange during 13–17 July 2026, as market participants focused on securing newly harvested grain while negotiations increasingly centered on export delivery terms and storage arrangements rather than price alone.
Activity remained concentrated in the wheat market despite a slight decline in prices. Corn recorded a modest weekly gain on limited turnover, soybeans traded unchanged, while feed barley continued recovering following pressure from the arrival of the new harvest. All prices have been converted into euros using the National Bank of Serbia’s official middle exchange rate of €1 = RSD117.3751 for 17 July 2026. Commodity prices are quoted in euros per tonne, excluding VAT unless otherwise stated.
Wheat Trading Expands Despite Lower Prices
Wheat contracts were concluded at €164.43–€170.39 per tonne, with a volume-weighted average price of €166.39 per tonne, or approximately €183 per tonne including VAT. The weighted average was slightly below the previous week’s €167.41 per tonne, when wheat traded between €166.13 and €168.69 per tonne. Although wheat’s share of total exchange turnover increased from 71% to 85%, the weighted price declined by approximately 0.6%, indicating that stronger trading activity did not translate into higher prices.
The increase in turnover reflected wheat’s greater market liquidity compared with other commodities rather than stronger pricing momentum. Buyers remained active while retaining sufficient negotiating leverage to resist higher offers. Interest was particularly strong for wheat delivered on a CPT port basis, under which sellers cover transport costs to the designated port. However, contracts were not concluded because buyers’ bids and sellers’ asking prices failed to converge.
Storage and Delivery Conditions Gain Commercial Importance
Negotiations highlighted the growing significance of logistics within Serbia’s grain trade. Commercial returns increasingly depend not only on warehouse prices but also on inland transport, handling costs, terminal availability, storage arrangements and achievable export prices through the Danube and Black Sea supply chain.
With wheat trading at around €166 per tonne, differences of only several euros per tonne can determine whether grain moves toward export terminals or remains in domestic storage, particularly for producers and traders located farther from major Danube loading facilities.
Buyers also sought wheat accompanied by free storage until the end of September or October. Contracts including these terms were concluded between €168.69 and €170.39 per tonne, reflecting the additional commercial value of deferred physical delivery. Such arrangements provide buyers with greater flexibility in scheduling vessel loading, port capacity, downstream sales and working-capital management, while sellers assume ongoing storage obligations, warehouse occupancy and associated risks during the post-harvest period.
As a result, wheat contracts are increasingly being valued according to embedded logistical flexibility alongside quality characteristics and delivery location. The current weighted wheat price remains well below levels recorded before the harvest. Bread wheat traded at approximately €183 per tonne at the beginning of June, while old-crop wheat changed hands at roughly €177–€183 per tonne in mid-June, depending on quality. The arrival of the new crop has therefore produced a pronounced seasonal price correction.
Lower wheat prices improve competitiveness for mills, feed manufacturers and grain exporters but compress producer margins as farmers continue to face elevated costs for fertiliser, fuel, machinery, land leases, financing and storage.
Corn Advances on Limited Market Participation
Corn traded between €172.10 and €174.65 per tonne, excluding VAT, with a weighted average of €173.21 per tonne, equivalent to approximately €190.59 per tonne including VAT. The weighted price increased 1.56% from the previous week’s €170.56 per tonne, although trading activity remained limited. Contracts covered grain sold without an aflatoxin analysis, a factor that may influence both marketability and commercial value.
The combination of firmer prices and subdued turnover suggests that reduced supply available for immediate trading supported concluded transactions, rather than indicating a broad-based upward market trend.
Corn’s weighted average exceeded wheat by approximately €6.82 per tonne, an unusual pricing relationship for commodities commonly competing within animal feed formulations. The premium could encourage feed manufacturers to increase wheat usage where nutritional specifications permit, particularly for lower-quality wheat unsuitable for milling.
For exporters, corn pricing must also accommodate quality testing requirements. While grain marketed without aflatoxin certification may involve fewer immediate documentation requirements, quality-related risks remain further along the commercial supply chain.
Soybeans Hold Steady While Feed Barley Recovers
Soybean trading remained limited, with contracts concluded at €451.54 per tonne, excluding VAT and subject to contractual quality adjustments. The equivalent price including VAT was approximately €496.70 per tonne. Prices were unchanged from the previous week, indicating a temporary market balance despite limited liquidity. Producers continued to resist lower offers while processors and traders showed little willingness to raise purchase prices without stronger demand.
At more than €451 per tonne, soybeans remained substantially more valuable than cereals on a per-tonne basis, although contractual adjustments for protein, moisture and impurities continue to influence final settlement values. Feed barley continued its recovery, trading between €150.80 and €151.65 per tonne, with a weighted average of €151.05 per tonne, or approximately €166.13 per tonne including VAT.
The weighted price increased 1.90% compared with the previous comparable level. Demand exceeded available supply, although differences between buyers’ bids and sellers’ price expectations continued to limit trading activity.
Barley traded at discounts of approximately €15.34 per tonne relative to wheat and €22.16 per tonne compared with corn, supporting its competitiveness as a feed ingredient where quality and nutritional specifications permit substitution. The market has also undergone a significant seasonal adjustment, with old-crop barley trading near €170 per tonne in early June before new-harvest supplies entered the market at around €151 per tonne.
Rapeseed and Fertiliser Markets Reflect Cost Pressures
Rapeseed was offered between €475 and €490 per tonne, excluding VAT. Buyers initially indicated interest at €475 per tonne on a CPT basis, matching the lower end of the asking range, but no contracts were concluded after demand subsided. The absence of completed transactions despite initial price alignment indicates that delivery conditions, quality specifications, timing, payment terms or available quantities prevented agreements.
Although asking prices increased from the previous week’s €470–€475 per tonne, the higher offers have yet to establish a confirmed market benchmark because no transactions were completed. The exchange also recorded a transaction in NPK 10:26:26 compound fertiliser, supplied in 600-kilogram packaging, at €635 per tonne, excluding VAT. Converting the quoted dinar contract value using the official exchange rate produces approximately €636.85 per tonne, with the difference reflecting the commercial exchange-rate basis used in the original quotation.
The fertiliser price equates to almost 3.8 tonnes of wheat at the week’s weighted exchange price, highlighting the continuing imbalance between declining grain prices and elevated agricultural input costs. Based on weighted exchange prices, one tonne of wheat and one tonne of corn together are worth approximately €339.60, little more than half the cost of one tonne of NPK fertiliser. Although fertiliser application rates are substantially lower than one tonne per hectare, the comparison illustrates the relationship between current crop values and production costs facing Serbian farmers.
Negotiations during the week increasingly focused on delivery conditions, storage arrangements and export logistics. Wheat contracts including free storage through autumn achieved higher prices, while discussions over port-delivered grain failed to produce agreements because buyers and sellers remained divided on pricing. These factors are becoming increasingly important alongside crop quality in determining commercial value across Serbia’s post-harvest grain market.
