EU: New crop prospects are indicating a large crop of winter barley

New crop prospects are indicating a large crop of winter barley, albeit feed barley, as France planted much less of Esterel and Vanessa varieties, according to analysts. Total winter barley acreage in France is up from 1.048 to 1.096 million ha, and in Germany even from 1.360 to 1.475 million ha.

Forecasts of spring barley acres are down everywhere, nowhere as much as in Germany, where the Raiffeisen Assn. estimates a reduction from 606,000 to 500,000 ha. Many local experts believe that the final figure will be higher, and we are using 525,000 ha in our estimates below (official and private figures) of the most important malting barley producers of the EU.