Argentina: Majority of barley crop 2024 expected to meet malting quality

An extreme weather event has dumped massive rainfall across all agricultural regions of Argentina. While in northern regions this is beneficial for soil moisture conditions, flooding in the Bahia Blanca area has led to export shipment delays, RMI Analytics said in their latest report.

From the 5.0 mln tonnes of barley forecast for crop’24, a majority is expected to meet malting quality, with protein and sizing the main quality variables.

RMI Analytics’ barley crop’25 is expected to drop slightly, due to a combination of reduced planted area, and a small reduction in average yields, to a crop size of 4.8 mln tonnes.

The recent arrival of feed barley demand from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) has been a welcome solution in replacement of the decline in Chinese shipments. Farmers are busy with sunflower harvest, and prices are steady for feed/FAQ, to higher for malting barley. This increase in malting barley prices is improving the malting premium, which is helpful ahead of crop’25 planting.