Argentina: Barley harvest forecast at up to 5 mln tonnes

The Buenos Aires Bolsa de Cereales reports that Argentina harvested 4.1 mln tonnes of barley, private estimates range from 4.5 to 5.0 mln tonnes, H. M. Gauger GmbH reported at the beginning of March.

Farmers sales as of early March were 1.7 mln tonnes of malting and 1.5 mln tonnes of feed barley; registered export sales licences were 1.5 mln tonnes of feed and 750 thousand tonnes of malting barley.

According to experts, Argentina’s domestic demand is 1.1 mln tonnes, the malting barley demand of South America (outside Argentina and Uruguay) is estimated at 1.2 mln tonnes.

Feed barley prices followed other world markets and dropped to USD 203,- FOB southern seaports as of early March. Remaining export surplus of all barley looks like a few hundred thousand tonnes, industry observers believe.

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