Russia: The country will have an operational malting capacity of 1.2 mln tonnes

On May 18 only 52 % that is 16.5 million ha of planned spring crops were seeded. Planting was delayed by a long winter and a cold spring, the latest IGC estimate gives Russia a barley crop of only 16.5 million tonnes compared to 17.2 million tonnes a year ago.

As the country will have an operational malting capacity of at least 1.2 million tonnes that is 1.5 million tonnes of barley demand, it is of great importance, how much malting barley will be available from domestic crops.

Most forecasters expect a large import demand, but during previous years Russia never imported the quantities, which seemed necessary to cover the maltsters� needs.

Russia�s feed barley exports dropped continuously during the past years. Exports during July 04/March 05 were only 800,000 tonnes, a total of no more than 1 million tonnes is expected for the full grain year. Estimates by USDA for next year�s exports range from 800,000 tonnes and estimates by UkrAgroConsult to 1.5 million tonnes.