Australia: Barley harvest almost finished under mostly good conditions, estimates are at up to 14 mln tonnes

Barley harvest has mostly wrapped up in Australia, under mostly good conditions during the past month, RMI Analytics said in their early January report.

A small volume is left to finish in southern Victoria and then 2021 crop harvest will be completed.

Other than the untimely rains impacting southern New South Wales, the Australia crop has come off under generally good conditions.

RMI Analytics’ barley crop estimate for Australia remains at 13.2 mln tonnes, some even estimate 14 mln.

Selection rates (30%+) are good and crate an available surplus for malting barley. There are increasing supply chain disruptions due to Covid-related impacts, mainly gaps in labour availability due to quarantines and isolation requirements. Port facilities are facing the possibility of losing capacity due to worker shortages which would constrain barley/grain export potential.

Australian barley prices are steady to lower with little farmer selling at current, lower pricing.

There remains a big crop to market and farmer selling will return, the analysts believe. Export channels are busy and fobbing rates remain very strong. Pockets of quality challenges in New South Wales may require bringing barley from further away.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .