China: China on a buying spree of all grains and soybeans
The CADA (Chinese Assn.) conference in Beijing produced the following figures: Chinese beer output in 2019 was 376.5 mln hl, malt input 8.3 kg/hl. Total barley use was 3.9 mln tonnes, of which only 0.3 mln tonnes of domestically-grown barley, H. M. Gauger GmbH said in their August report.
Malting barley imports in 2019 were approximately 500 thousand tonnes. It looks as if the industry used large quantities of FAQ barley, but also ran down barley stocks down to a minimum by the end of last year.
In Jan/May of this year China imported 1.95 mln tonnes of barley (malt and feed), of which 0.5 mln tonnes in May. Australia shipped 984 thousand tonnes of feed and 965 thousand tonnes of malting barley in Jan/May. A few May shipments were caught by the penalty import duty of 80.5%, however, Australian malting barley may be imported duty-free into transit zones against malt exports. The Chinese malt export volume of half a million tonnes is likely to be covered by barley imports from Australia, irrespective of the general penalty duties, the Gauger analysts believe.
China is on a big buying spree of soybeans and all grains, wheat, corn, sorghum, and barley. France reports 500 thousand tonnes of barley already shipped since July 1, total new crop sales are almost 1 mln tonnes, of which 2/3 feed and 1/3 malting barley. Canada shipped 1.15 mln tonnnes during August/June, of which 111 thousand in June; 600 thousand tonnes of new crop sales are reported. Ukraine exported to China 920 thousand tonnes in the crop year 2019/20; now there is a vessel line-up for prompt shipment of 1.0 mln tonnes, all feed barley. Argentina sold 450 thousand tonnes of old and new crop FAQ barley, and negotiates further quantities.
The virtual embargo on Australian barley forces the Chinese malting industries to cover the bulk of their needs elsewhere, mainly from Canada and France, also from Argentina. There is a phytosanitary problem for U.K. and Danish sales to China.
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