Canada & USA: Barley crop situation remains serious

The barley crop situation in Canada and the US is serious and production will be greatly reduced, RMI Analytics said in a report in late August.

The analysts’ estimate for Canada (6.6 mln tonnes of barley, down 0.5 mln since the previous report) and the US (2.2 mln tonnes, down 0.2 mln tonnes) are both lowered again on poorer yield expectations.

The USA harvest is well advanced with USDA reporting 72% complete (5-year average 63%). Canadian harvest has begun and the crop is mostly mature, some green second growth to contend with but with good weather farmers will progress quickly as some rain is forecast.

The current market remains ‘no offer’ as the final crop outcome is not defined. With imports of malting barley widely discussed and most likely to occur, prices will reflect to a degree import parity pricing.

With harvest not quite rolling at full speed, the availability of feed barley has been limited. Still, some pressure on prices is anticipated and feed barley levels are slightly down.