World: Barley production forecast up, trade unchanged in USDAs December report
USDAs December report leaves the forecast for barley trade in 2019/20 almost unchanged from November at 28.078 mln tonnes vs. 28.008 mln last month.
Export forecast is down for Australia (minus 300 thousand tonnes to 4 mln), whereas import forecasts are slightly up for Lybia and Vietnam.
Production is expected to reach 156.799 mln tonnes in 2019/20, up from the November forecast of 155.835 mln tonnes and from 139.589 mln tonnes expected to be harvested in 2018/19. Production forecasts are increased for Canada (10.4 mln tonnes vs. 9.9 mln in November and 8.38 in 2018/19) and the EU (62.25 mln tonnes vs. 61.8 and 55.898 mln, respectively).
World barley consumption is forecast at 152.967 mln tonnes (152.178 and 140.882 mln tonnes, respectively), and ending stocks at 21.924 mln tonnes (21.801 and 18.092 mln tonnes, respectively).