Argentina: Barley planted area for crop 2023 could drop due to competition from wheat

Argentina’s barley crop 2022 result is steady at 3.8 mln tonnes, while in crop 2023 the competition from wheat will remain quite strong, reducing barley’s planted area, RMI Analytics said in their late February report.

A return to average yields puts forecast for crop 2023 at 4.4 mln tonnes.

Export declarations are 1.2 mln tonnes for feed/fair average quality (FAQ); 0.43 mln tonnes for malting barley. Based upon expected demand, there is a need for an additional 0.3-0.4 mln tonnes of malting barley to still be declared. Ending stocks are very low as a result, the analysts said.

Argentina’s barley prices are slightly down for both malting and FAQ barley. For farmer FAS prices, malting barley is holding steady, while FAQ is down by USD5/tonne. Farmers are selling small quantities of FAQ barley to generate cash flow, while they await sunflower harvest.

Barley cargo offerings are present in the market, but a lack of buying interest is currently keeping trade volumes quite low.

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