EU & UK: Spring malting barley surplus forecast at around 825 thousand tonnes

The total spring malting barley surplus in the leading EU producing countries plus the UK is forecast to reach 825 thousand tonnes this year, H. M. Gauger GmbH said in their July report.

France is expected to have the biggest exportable surplus, at 1.85 mln tonnes, followed by Denmark with 1 mln, and Belgium with 700 thousand tonnes.

In terms of output, France is leading too with 3.6 mln tonnes produced and 2.7 mln of it meeting malting grade. The UK is expected to harvest 4.5 mln tonnes of spring barley with 2 mln of it of malting quality. Denmark’s crop is forecast at 3.3 mln tonnes with 1.3 mln tonnes selected as malting barley. The largest spring barley crop is forecast for Spain (8.6 mln tonnes) but only 475 thousand tonnes could meet malting standards, the analysts said.