Australia: ABB increases 2005/06 barley pools

ABB Grain Ltd announced on July 26 it has increased its 2005/06 gross barley pool indicators to A$187-A$197/t for malting 1 barley and A$150-A$160/t for feed 1 barley for South Australia and Victoria.

ABB’s General Manager – Marketing, Nigel Officer, said the global barley supply/demand equation was becoming more in balance since the company’s last 2005/06 pool revision, which allowed the pool indicators to be increased by A$2/t and A$5/t for malting and feed barley respectively.

“China is showing signs of returning to normal levels of demand for malting barley. Relatively high European malting barley prices, supported by firm feed prices, means competing values for European barley in China remain relatively strong – and these are the prices that we compete against,” Mr Officer said.

“Demand for feed barley in general also continues to be solid from major importers Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran, as well as other north African and Middle East countries.”

Mr Officer said that while the later than normal planting of Australia’s crops would impact on yield potential, elsewhere international crops had also experienced less than ideal conditions.

“Estimates of what the European crop will produce are not as large as previously expected, having dropped by 2.5 million tonnes since March and making the estimate now almost 8 million tonnes less than production in 2004.

“Wet conditions in Canada coupled with hot and humid conditions are putting stress on Canadian crops which is expected to reduce crop size, particularly along the central eastern areas of the Saskatchewan province. “Production from the Black Sea area is also expected to be lower than last year, which means less barley from this area flowing into the export markets.”

Mr Officer said ABB would provide regular updates and make necessary pool indicator adjustments to the 2005/06 pool indicators as the season progresses.

ABB Grain as it exists today was formed by the merger of three South Australian based grain companies, ABB Grain, AusBulk Ltd and United Grower Holdings in late September 2004. The merger was achieved through a share swap in which shareholders of AusBulk and UGH swapped their shares for shares in ABB, with AusBulk, UGH and their assets becoming wholly-owned entities of ABB.

Based in South Australia, ABB accumulates grain from all the grain growing regions in Australia and New Zealand including barley, wheat, sorghum, canola, oats, field peas, faba beans, triticale, chickpeas, lupins, lentils, rye, safflower and maize.

ABB exports these commodities to around 40 countries from storage facilities across Australia, but significantly from its own network in South Australia, which comprises 111 silos and 7 export shipping terminals with a capacity of more than 10 million tonnes.

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