EU & UK: Weather generally favourable for barley harvest

Weather was generally favourable for barley harvest, with some rain interruptions this summer. The bottom line is malting barley production should equal or slightly surpass crop 2021, RMI Analytics said in their late August report.

England’s malting barley harvest is finished and Scotland 80% completed, both under good quality and yields. Harvest in Denmark and southern Sweden is mostly wrapped up with good yields and quality resulting from nearly ‘ideal’ conditions (protein slightly lower, moisture lower, with good test weights). High yields are being confirmed in Russia.

The EU-27 + UK production forecast is down slightly to 57.2 mln tonnes (previously 57.6 mln).

European barley prices are lower as harvest pressure is realized; malting premiums are also weaker. A recent Jordan tender for 120 thousand tonnes of feed barley resulted in no volume traded.