EU: Spring malting barley prices up this week

Spring malting barley prices went up in the EU this week, GrainCom reported on December 1.

The move was mainly driven by the UK, where prices for crop 2017 went up by around 8.00 EUR/tonne. Ongoing domestic demand, quality issues and a big export program (so far) are the reasons why the supply is getting smaller and smaller.

Scandinavian and French prices also went up, but not to the same extent.

Winter malting barley remained basically unchanged, but remains supported from the feed sector. In France as well as in Germany the demand from the feed compound industry is strong. The GrainCom analysts expect the demand to continue and therefore feed prices to remain stable, which in the end will support winter malting barley.

Crop 2018 spring barley prices also moved up. Looking at the discount to crop 2017 and the premium decrease in the last weeks it feels that we might have found the bottom for the moment, the analysts said.