Canadian barley stocks on March 31 2003 were 3.27 million tons against 6.175 a year ago. U.S./Canadian maltsters resold at least 50.000 tons of EU malting barley and tried to sell more. It was bought last fall as a hedge against the poor outcome of the Canadian crop, but it turns out now that the North American maltsters can find enough local barley of adequate quality to carry them through to the next crop. Moisture conditions have improved, planting is slow and there had been local frost damage in the middle of the month, but crop prospects are, of course, much better than in 2002.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .