EU: Barley prices continue trending upwards as farmer selling is mostly absent

The EU barley market finds itself in a difficult situation as brewer/maltster demand is quite strong and persistent, while farmer selling is mostly absent, RMI Analytics reported earlier this month.

This lack of liquidity is the major contributing factor to prices continuing their upward trajectory.

France is leading the way to new higher price levels and will pull other markets along with it. Higher domestic demand plus strong export demand are the causes. There will be no carryover of malting barley in France, possibly in all of Europe by the end of crop 2022, the analysts predict.

The sharp rise in French prices is forcing the UK and Scandinavian markets to maintain the pace. The gap will be closed quickly, in the analysts’ view: either the French prices will fall back, or the Danish/UK values surge further higher.