Emalt and current crop conditions/impact on crop quality got me thinking about malt barley.
From slide 16, CWB year end presentation on July 30, Canada exported and processed domestically 1.95 million tonnes of malt barley in 2008/09. 80 % of this was used in N. America.
From this week's emalt, the following two articles that highlight our challenges going ahead as a malt barley supply chain.
E-malt article 1
EU: Malt markets pressured by the abundant barley crop
With feed barley prices largely at intervention levels (support price) the weight of the sheer size of this year’s EU barley crop has really pressured the malt markets in the last couple of weeks, eFarming reported on August, 9.
Malt prices reached new lows with increased farmer selling and slack demand.
While some weather risks remain across Germany and northern parts of Europe, the quality problems that were expected a couple of weeks ago when the harvest was being delayed by rain, have not eventuated. The favourable yields combined with limited downgrading have lead to an expansion in the expected surplus of malting barley this year in Europe, with estimates as high as 3 mln metric tons.
The higher than expected malt barley surplus may require some malt to be sold into the feed sector and this knowledge has pushed the malt barley premium back into 10 Euros, industry sources report.
E-Malt article 2: United States & Canada: Decreasing barley acreage and production may make it a specialty crop only for food and malting - analysts
US barley crop estimates range from 4.1 to 4.4 mln tons this year, analysts communicated earlier this month.
Canada’s barley production 2009-10 is forecast to reach just 8.7 mln tons.
Barley experts in the US and Canada point to the steady erosion of barley acreage over the past years. In the late 1980’s the combined acreage was 10 mln ha. This year, 5 mln ha were planted, and a further reduction to 4 mln ha is anticipated for the years to come.
Barley yields 3.2 tons/HA on average are expected in North America.
Usage of feed barley will drop fast and deep in the US, experts forecast. There is a risk that barley will become a specialty crop for food and malting, with an obvious supply risk in case of crop failures.
Barley is already a specialty crop in South America and South Africa, a similar situation in North America would leave only the EU, CIS and Australia as feed barley suppliers to the world.
From slide 16, CWB year end presentation on July 30, Canada exported and processed domestically 1.95 million tonnes of malt barley in 2008/09. 80 % of this was used in N. America.
From this week's emalt, the following two articles that highlight our challenges going ahead as a malt barley supply chain.
E-malt article 1
EU: Malt markets pressured by the abundant barley crop
With feed barley prices largely at intervention levels (support price) the weight of the sheer size of this year’s EU barley crop has really pressured the malt markets in the last couple of weeks, eFarming reported on August, 9.
Malt prices reached new lows with increased farmer selling and slack demand.
While some weather risks remain across Germany and northern parts of Europe, the quality problems that were expected a couple of weeks ago when the harvest was being delayed by rain, have not eventuated. The favourable yields combined with limited downgrading have lead to an expansion in the expected surplus of malting barley this year in Europe, with estimates as high as 3 mln metric tons.
The higher than expected malt barley surplus may require some malt to be sold into the feed sector and this knowledge has pushed the malt barley premium back into 10 Euros, industry sources report.
E-Malt article 2: United States & Canada: Decreasing barley acreage and production may make it a specialty crop only for food and malting - analysts
US barley crop estimates range from 4.1 to 4.4 mln tons this year, analysts communicated earlier this month.
Canada’s barley production 2009-10 is forecast to reach just 8.7 mln tons.
Barley experts in the US and Canada point to the steady erosion of barley acreage over the past years. In the late 1980’s the combined acreage was 10 mln ha. This year, 5 mln ha were planted, and a further reduction to 4 mln ha is anticipated for the years to come.
Barley yields 3.2 tons/HA on average are expected in North America.
Usage of feed barley will drop fast and deep in the US, experts forecast. There is a risk that barley will become a specialty crop for food and malting, with an obvious supply risk in case of crop failures.
Barley is already a specialty crop in South America and South Africa, a similar situation in North America would leave only the EU, CIS and Australia as feed barley suppliers to the world.
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