China: Barley imports stood at 1.777 million t in January-September 2006

Analysts reported October 31 that China's malting barley imports in January-September were 1.777 million t, of which almost 1.4 million t from Australia, the balance from Canada. The annual demand of malting barley is 4 million t.

After the Australian crop failure China will be obliged to draw its supplies from its own crop, from Canada and maybe from Europe after the harvest of 2007. There is a danger that the lack of supplies and high barley prices will drive Chinese brewers to further increase the already high percentage of adjuncts.

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