UK: More than half of the barley crop is harvested

While Scotland's spring barley harvest is in its earliest stages, the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) reports that more than half of the English crop has been cut, The Scotsman posted August 17.

The UK harvest in general - and in spite of recent thunderstorms and heavy rain - is about ten days ahead of the usual timetable, with winter barley and much of the oilseed rape crops cleared.

The HGCA's estimate is that, in the south, east, west and Midlands of England, between 60 and 75 per cent of spring barley has been harvested. Scotland's earliest areas have made a start.

The authority says it is too early to make an accurate judgment on quality and yields, but winter barleys were "at least average quality and yield", with spring variety results so far more mixed.

It says malting quality spring barley delivered prices in East Anglia are £88 to £92 per tonne. The most recent US Department of Agriculture estimate of supply and demand for coarse grains shows a slight reduction, with increased supplies of US maize and Ukraine barley offset by lower European Union maize and barley production.

This, says the HGCA, leaves both production and ending stocks for 2006-7 only slightly changed at just under 970 million tonnes (973 million for 2005-6) and just above 127 million respectively (down 40 million on the 167 million tonnes of 2005-6).

"Therefore final development in the lead into harvest along with plantings for 2007 need monitoring, especially with historically low stocks."

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