EU: Trade in malting barley crop 2017 still showing little activity

EU malting barley crop 2017 was still showing little activity from the demand side last week, while the execution program remains busy, GrainCom reported on February 9.

Crop 2018 showed reasonable signs of life with only very little selling interest from the country side, and firmer market prices on account of industry buying plus some trade inquiries.

Weather is seasonally cold in Europe, plus rather wet conditions will prohibit any kind of field work in the near future. We might see a delay in spring barley plantings, the analysts warned.

The feed barley market is firm all around Europe, like all around the globe. Little farmer selling/tight S&D meet good demand from the trade who sold into Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Africa and China. Iran is still buying decent volumes, China is doing the same plus the GrainCom analysts expect Saudi Arabia (SAGO) to launch a new import tender soon. The analysts believe that feed barley markets will remain tight until we know about the supply side of the new crop 2018.

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