EU & UK: European barley prices are generally on the defensive this month

Generally European barley prices are on the defensive this month (the exception being the UK) as end-users appear to be well-covered and/or out of the market at the moment, RMI Analytics reported earlier in February.

With the Chinese New year celebration over, a return of trading activity may return but for now, trade is slow.

In contrast to late January, where French barley crop 2022 prices were down sharply and crop 2023 more steady, the opposite is occurring now. The spread between old and new crop in Creil has disappeared, while Mosel holds a premium for crop 2023. Recently demand has returned for crop 2022 six-row barley, which had been absent for quite some time, but old crop feed barley prices are steady as it is rumoured that China is back in the market, and this is narrowing the malting premium for crop 2022.

While UK barley prices remained steady, with feed demand in the market for spot business. The Danish market is a bit weaker in alignment with France. Prices for crop 2023 are holding steady versus old crop, and moving back to a typical premium for the unplanted new crop, the analysts said.

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