World: Australian barley crop forecast at up to 8.5 mln tonnes this year

According to the latest IGC monthly report, Australian barley crop is estimated at 8.2 mln tonnes (vs GrainCom’s estimate of 8.5 mln tonnes).

According to the latest GrainCom report on November 24, Australia’s barley harvest is about 70% done in Western Australia and around 40% in Victoria and South Australia. Recent rains led to some delays and quality concerns. There is a bit more rain in the forecast. Market has been very active, especially in feed barley where China continues to buy big chunks at prices which have been slowly going up again. This is giving support to malting barley prices.

Argentina’s barley crop is forecast by IGC at 2.7 mln tonnes (vs GrainCom’s forecast of 2.8 mln tonnes).

The IGC put feed barley imports to Saudi Arabia at 9.4 mln tonnes (which the GrainCom analysts deemed too high) and China barley imports at 6 mln tonnes (vs 5.5 mln tonnes last month). This number still seems too low, having in mind the present import pace (in Jan/Oct, China imported 7.6 mln tonnes of barley, and in July/October the nation imported 3.1 mln tonnes).

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