Promising barley harvest to depress prices
The start of the German barley harvest had raised expectations for – at worst – average yields from this year’s winter-sown crop, German trading house Toepfer International said.
The expected decent harvest means Europe’s barley farmers may find it difficult getting decent prices. Toepfer expects prices to fall sharply.
World’s largest barley importer, Saudi Arabia, is unlikely to seek more barley in coming weeks, as its stocks are sufficient for the coming three months. This makes it more difficult to market the new crop.
Swiss based commodity trader Glencore noted that traders in France, which is also a big barley producer, started to aggressively sell barley into the Spanish Mediterranean and Irish markets.
In the UK prices had dropped below £80 (€89.90) a tonne. Here intervention buying was likely to prevent "further significant falls".
German farm co-operatives association (DRV) estimated Germany’s winter barley production will come in at 9.64m tonnes, adding up 120,000 tonnes from the May estimate and 280,000 tonnes higher year on year.
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