Australia: Barley harvest progress on the east coast continues to face delays

Barley harvest progress on the east coast continued to face delays over the past two weeks. However, there is a clearing pattern in the forecast which would allow harvest to restart, RMI Analytics said in their December report.

The analysts’ crop estimate for Australia remains at 11.19 mln tonnes in alignment with ABARES recent updated estimate.

So far, quality reports remain positive but concern will increase if rains continue to fall on a mature barley crop. Harvest will continue through Christmas and the final result will only be clear in January.

The selection rates for malting barley, despite the recent weather, continue in a very positive way but the previous 50/50 malting/feed is likely dropping to 40/60 malting/feed due to the weather impact over the past two weeks.

The weather related delays in harvest have farmers less interested in further selling at this stage. Prices are unchanged, remaining a bit higher than the lows made at the beginning of harvest. A premium for malting barley variety Planet remains in place, currently at USD7/tonne over the FOB values. On the export side, the general view is that buyers (e.g. China) are well covered for Q1 2024 and therefore a limited number of new trades are being concluded. That leaves exporters activity focused on executing the existing business on the books, while also managing the up-country harvest activity.