Europe: Development of barley crop 2022 continues on a positive path but tight balance sheet creates steady challenges for maltsters

Europe contributed to the global drop in barley production with crop 2021 at 58.9 mln tonnes for the combined EU27+UK, RMI Analytics said in their January report.

Russia also contributed to the crop reduction, while Ukraine had a good outcome, increasing to 10.3 mln tonnes (up from 8 mln last year).

In the UK, a better crop 2021 outcome is positive but export shipments are being impacted by a lack of trucks (Covid-related) for delivery of barley to export terminals and sellers are trying to avoid committing to load rate guarantees.

The crop 2022 development continues on a positive path, with good moisture and moderate winter temperatures putting the crop in good condition at the moment. Spring barley area may be up slightly.

The tighter European barley balance sheet (including Russia and Ukraine) creates a situation with steady challenges for maltsters to gain malting barley coverage while export channels are forced to deal with supply chain constraints (e.g. labour). The next six months will be very interesting, the analysts believe.

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