EU: Barley crop forecasts for 2006 and estimates of malting barley shares

Barley crop forecasts for 2006 and estimates of malting barley shares are very speculative at present. The strong winter may lead to winterkill, at least in Poland, Germany and the Balkans, and subsequently to larger acreages of spring barley.

Both the French and Spanish government show already concern about a continuation of dry conditions in the French Southwest and all over Spain. France and Germany published official estimates of their winter barley acreages, France 1.096 million ha, last year 1.048 million ha, and Germany 1.475 million ha, an 8.6 % increase from last year's 1.360 million ha. In France plantings of the degenerating Esterel variety are 250-300,000 ha versus 390,000 ha last year. Two-row winter barley Vanessa is estimated at 60-80,000 ha versus 105,000 ha in 2005. Spain reports unofficially a strong reduction from 800 to 720,000 ha.

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