World: A very small barley export surplus is forecast, particularly for malting barley

Russia exported 648,000 tonnes in July-December, Canada 649,000 and the U.S. 457,000 tonnes till mid January, Australia 993,000 tonnes of malting and 339,000 tonnes of feed barley in July/December.

Australian feed barley exports during the last three months of 2006 were only 44.000 tons, a result of the bad drought that hit the country.

Stocks of feed and malting barley in the Eastern part of Australia were used to alleviate the desperate feed situation so that carryover stocks were negligible. Maltsters, on the other hand, maintained good reserves for their operations. A crop of max. 3.7 million tonnes and a domestic consumption of 3.0 million tonnes leaves a very small export surplus, particularly for malting barley.