UK: Barley demand seeing a hike

UK barley demand is seeing a hike as higher wheat prices meant buyers sought a more cost effective grain for animal feed, FeedNavigator.com reported on June 1.

Barley feed usage jumped by around a fifth in the nine months through to March 2018. The UK’s total consumption this season is expected to reach the highest since 1991/92, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

However, barley usage may drop again as feed wheat’s premium over barley reduces.

Global grain markets continued to be influenced by weather forecasts and crop condition reports last week, said the AHDB in a market report.

“Conditions in some key global wheat growing regions continued to be of concern. Australia remained dry, hampering planting and crop development, it said. The Manitoba and Saskatchewan regions of Canada were also dry with rainfall required for crop development. Similarly, warm and dry weather has set in across Black Sea regions with crop conditions less than ideal.

“The US southern plains continued to lack moisture, and with harvest fast approaching crop conditions are unlikely to improve significantly.”