USA: Barley acres are project to be at record lows this year

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects that US barley acres will only be 88% of last year’s levels. North Dakota barley acres are forecast to drop 25% from last year’s 1.6 million acres.

US barley acres are project to be at record lows this year. The USDA expects that US barley stocks will be 120 million bushels at the end of this crop year versus 135 million bushels last year. Trade sources report that there is very little Australian barley carried over. This means that the Aussies will not be able to start selling large quantities of malt barley until January, 2006.

Trade sources are saying that the Chinese have been buying hand to mouth to meet their malt barley requirements and due to increasing demand, they will have to come into the market for their early fall requirements. Due to the high cost of freight, the Europeans will be at a disadvantage to Canada to supply the Chinese demand.

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