Buyers keen at entitlement sale

Welsh farmers competed feverishly for higher value entitlements at the first sale of its kind to be staged by auctioneers McCartneys at Kington.

But McCartneys auctioneer Gareth Wall is confident there's currently an even balance between supply and demand for Welsh entitlements.

"There's not an abundance of Welsh entitlements available but there are sufficient buyers in the market for them. Landlords are among those keeping an eye on the market, several with the intention of replacing entitlements on land where tenancies have been relinquished and where land that is being taken back in-hand needs to regain its full SPS status.

Entitlements on offer at the sale, and which had an annual SPS value in 2006 of £245 a ha (360.39 euros), realised £555 a ha - that's 2.26 times its value. Entitlements with the same SPS value also realised £515 a ha - 2.1 times its value.

With landowners in action from Flintshire, Brecon and Llandeilo, McCartneys' entitlement sale saw a range of values achieved with 4.96 Welsh entitlements generating £201 a ha (294 euros) making £390 per entitlement - that's 1.94 times its value.

Other transactions included 10 Welsh entitlements generating £154 a ha (225 euros) realise £280 per entitlement - 1.81 times its value.

And a further offering of 20 Welsh entitlements generating £188 a ha (277 euros) made £360 per entitlement -1.91 times its value.

Commented Gareth Wall: "We anticipate that current values will be sustained for our forthcoming entitlement sales in January, February and March and even immediately after this week's sale we received enquiries from several potential purchasers."

The next sale at Kington is on January 15.