EU: Winter barley harvest advancing, prices on the defensive

EU’s winter barley harvest has advanced during the past two weeks, avoiding significant rains in the region, RMI Analytics reported earlier in July.

French winter barley yields are average to slightly above in the north, leading to a slight increase in RMI’s EU27+UK crop output to 58 mln tonnes (up from 57.8 mln in the previous report in late June).

Russian news is very good for early yield results for barley in southern growing regions (same for wheat), raising the RMI analysts’ estimate to 18.9 mln tonnes.

Across Europe, barley prices are on the defensive. Price direction is influenced by harvest results in France and a very weak wheat market. Malting barley premiums remain quite strong and are keeping malting very relevant from a farmer perspective. Farmer selling has been very active, providing ample liquidity to end-users.

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