North America: Dramatic drop in barley yield and quality having widespread implications

Canada barley production forecast is lowered to 6.8 mln tonnes, from 7.1 mln tonnes forecast early in September, RMI Analytics reported at the end of the last month.

Over the last ten years, the nation’s barley crop has varied highly. The crop 2021 outcome is now at ten-year lowest at under 7 mln tonnes.

In the US, production forecast remains unchanged at 2.2 mln tonnes. The harvest is complete, with Good & Excellent ratings the lowest in five years.

Across the whole continent the end result is the same: the dramatic drop in yield and quality is having wide spread implications as the North American market scrambles to find suitable supplies of malting barley. There are many pockets of good quality malting barley but in general, the main quality issues with the crop are higher proteins (13-16%) and lower plumpness (75-85%) which have significant final malt quality implications.

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