Australia: Australian barley market very quiet as 2024 harvest wraps up

With Australia’s barley harvest completed except for a few last small areas, the market is very quiet in terms of new business and prices have drifted a bit lower as a consequence, RMI Analytics said in their early January report.

Shipment execution continues and Western Australia is taking advantage of the good crop outcome to fill China’s demand. The weaker AUD is translating FOB prices into good farmer bids, but selling remains below normal at this time of year. There has been limited selling and mostly in cases where farmers achieved good results (yield and/or quality). The current price structure remains with the east-coast a premium over the west-coast (Western Australia), for both malting and feed barley. Until the exports to China (and Mexico) exhaust Western Australia’s supply, this price relationship is expected to remain in place.

The solid 2024 performance of current varieties and ag practices against varied weather events will help barley maintain planted area in 2025, the analysts said.

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