Germany: Winter barley crop expected to increase by 33.9%, spring to drop by 6.8% this year

Germany’s 2019 winter barley crop, mostly used for animal feed, will rise 33.9 percent on last year’s drought-reduced harvest to 9.87 million tonnes, the German association of farm cooperatives said on March 14 in its first forecast for the new crop.

The spring barley crop, generally used for malt and beer production, is expected to fall by 6.8 percent on the year to 2.05 million tonnes. This is partly because there is less need to re-sow frost damaged grains after the warm winter.

The wheat harvest will rise by 19.4 percent against last year’s output to 24.20 million tonnes, the association said.

The German harvest in 2018 was sharply reduced by a drought and heatwave but the unusually mild winter so far has helped wheat crops after sowed area was expanded, the DRV said.

The grain maize (corn) crop will increase by 27.2 percent to 4.25 million tonnes, it forecast.

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