EU & UK: Barley supply and demand sheet for 2023/24 unchanged

The barley supply and demand balance sheet for the EU27+ UK is unchanged, with a crop estimate of 54.33 mln tonnes, RMI Analytics said in their December report.

Export volumes are down slightly in crop 2023 as competition from Australia increases, and the need for Europe to address internal quality remains a priority. Looking ahead to crop 2024, early estimates predict lower French planting of barley, despite the winter seeding delays caused by wet conditions. In RMI Analytics’ view, there remains a potential for barley to still gain area in the spring.

Since 2019, EU27+UK production has been in steady decline for four years, so a turnaround in 2024 is quite possible, as seen in 2019.

In the background there remain the quality challenges in northern Europe and Scandinavia, and there is still a considerable period of time before supply from crop 2024 can be assessed. High malting premiums will certainly help maintain or even gain barley area; otherwise a normal crop 2024 result is vitally needed.

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