Saudi Arabia: Saudi barley imports are expected to increase

Saudi Arabia's is expected to import more barley this year because of poor pasture conditions caused by below average rainfall in the Central and Northern parts of the country, reports the U.S. agricultural attaché, according to .

Saudi Arabia has been importing on average about 6 million metric tons (MT) of barley since 1995, but in the last couple of years imports have hovered around 6.5 million MT. About 80% of all available barley is consumed by sheep and goats raised by traditional farmers.

The demand for other feed alternatives such as alfalfa and feed concentrates is expected to remain very low as long as the Saudi Government keeps on subsidizing imported barley. It is the policy of the Government to eliminate or sharply reduce alfalfa production due to its high usage of non-renewable aquifer water. Since the Government's ban on alfalfa exports four years ago, a large number of farmers have stopped alfalfa and other forage production. Nowadays, the main growers and users of alfalfa are dairy farmers.

Barley imports for the first six months of marketing year (MY) 2005 (July 2005-December 2005) increased by 33% compared to the same period last MY (3,191,386 MT vs. 2,397,643 MT). MY 2004 barley imports totaled about 5.9 million metric tons (a decrease of 15% compared to MY 2003 import level).

In calendar year 2005, the Kingdom imported 6,667,035 metric tons of barley, an increase of 25% compared to same period in 2004 (5,298,877 MT). Ukraine supplied 31 % of the total barley imports, followed by Australia (20%), Germany (18%), Russia (14%), Canada (7%), France (5%) and the remaining 5% was supplied by the Netherlands and Romania.

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