World: Barley is in a special position

Barley is in a special position, as often before, but at price levels hardly ever seen before, analysts commented on December 22. The world crop of 140 Mill. tons differs little from the harvest of 2005/06, but is 14 Mill. tons lower than in 2004/05.

Consumption is expected 9 Mill. tons higher than a year before, because of larger feed use in the EU and CIS. The IGC assumes Saudi Arabia imports of only 5,5 Mill. tons, but the trade anticipates a regular import volume of 6,5 � 7,0 Mill. tons. Therefore the stock change between the crop years could even be more dramatic.