Australia: No changes to barley crop 2024 and 2025 forecasts

There are no changes to Australia’s barley crop 2024 estimate, remaining at 13.0 mln tonnes. For crop’25, although it remains very early, the arrival of considerable rain on the eastern half of Australia is positive for soil moisture conditions, RMI Analytics said in their latest report.

Parts of Victoria and South Australia missed the heaviest of the rain and could use more moisture, while all Western Australia was dry. With these improved moisture levels, the crop’25 forecast at 12.3 mln tonnes remains reasonable.

Barley exports continue at a strong pace, with Chinese imports of 1.15 mln tonnes from Australia in Jan./Feb.’25 of a total import of 1.69 mln tonnes. Looking closely at the January data, Mexico is down slightly and although China is up slightly overall there has been a sharp swing to feed barley, away from malting barley.

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