EU: Barley Planting situation in Europe by the end of March: Spring started in the middle of March in the Southwest and reached Central and Northern Europe by the Easter weekend. Planting of spring barley has been done and is being done at a very quick pace, helped by favourable planting weather.

Spain planted from October till March. Malting varieties are Scarlett (28 %), Beka (21 %), Nevada, Prudentia and Prestige (about 10 % each). The Iberian Peninsula is extremely dry, crop forecasts for all barley have dropped to 8.8 million tonnes versus 10 million tonnes last year.

France finished seeding of spring barley in March, the acreage is expected about unchanged. Scarlett, Prestige and Cellar are the main varieties. Soil conditions are only fair in the Centre and Southwest, but good everywhere North of Paris.

Holland started planting end of March, acreage may be a bit smaller (40 i/o 45.000 Ha) than last year, main varieties Prestige (60 %) and Class (30 %).

In the U.K. one expects an unchanged acreage, Optic remains the No. 1 variety (36 %), but is followed closely by Cocktail (34 %). Acreage of winter barley dropped by 10 %, main variety is Pearl. Seeding is finished in the South, East Anglia and Midlands, and is progressing fast in Yorkshire and Scotland.

Planting has commenced in the Czech and Slovak Republics, after a thick snowcover melted away. Acreage estimates differ from unchanged to 10 % up. Varieties in the Czech Republic will be Jersey 30 %, Prestige 15-20 %, Malz 15 %, Tolar 10 %, in Slovakia 60-70 % three new varieties Malz, Ebson, Prestige, balance the traditional Kompakt and Anabel.

Scandinavia: Denmark and South Sweden just started seeding. Denmark forecasts a somewhat larger acreage. Prestige is the main variety, the well-known Barke, Alliot, Pasadena will show strong reductions from former years. Central Sweden and Finland will hardly commence field works for another 2-3 weeks.

Germany: Planting is finished in the West and North, but not yet in the South and Southeast where most of the works should be done by the 10th of April. Acreage may decline by upto 10 %, farmers were very unhappy with malting barley prices in 2004. Barke in the North and Scarlett in the South remain important varieties, but Auriga, Braemer and Ursa are gaining market share.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .