Australia: ABB Grain posted barley pools unchanged � feed barley shipping program well-advanced

ABB Grain Ltd announced on April 4 that it has reviewed its gross barley pool indicators for 2005/2006 and has left its price estimates unchanged. ABB Grain’s general manager marketing, Nigel Officer, said the company had had a “particularly good campaign” with feed barley and effectively had priced most of its feed barley inventory.

“About two-thirds of our feed barley is expected to have been shipped by the end of this month with the balance of it expected to be shipped by the middle of the year,” Mr Officer said.

“This is a particularly good outcome for growers and also reflects the high level of cooperation between rail providers and our bulk handling operations.

“With malting barley, we expect the next round of buying to begin shortly. There is still a large amount of open demand between now and when the northern hemisphere new crop barley becomes available, around October.

“European malting barley prices are still relatively high and uncompetitive in China, so the only real competition we have in the Chinese market is from east coast Australian barley suppliers.”

The current estimates for the No.1 malting pool in South Australia (which closed on January 24) is A$186/tonne, with the feed barley No.1 pool A$163/t. For the No.2 malting barley pool in SA, which opened on January 24, the estimate is A$168/t, with the feed barley No.2 pool at A$150/t.

The current estimate for the Victorian No.1 pool, which closed on October 31, is A$191/tonne for malting barley and A$168/t for feed barley in the No.1 pool. In the east coast pool (Victoria, NSW and Queensland) the gross barley pool indicators for the No.2 pools (which closed on January 24) is A$186/t for malting barley, with the feed barley No.2 pool at A$163/t. For the No.3 pools which opened in Victoria, NSW and Queensland on January 24, the estimate is A$168/t for malting barley with the No.3 feed barley pool at A$150/t.

A A$5/t premium applies to the Baudin and Sloop varieties, although this is the last season in which this premium will apply.