EU & UK: Barley crop forecast unchanged at 57.7 mln tonnes

Production across the EU-27 and the UK is unchanged at 57.7 mln tonnes and attention has turned to crop’25, with a focus on winter barley planting, RMI Analytics said in their latest report earlier this month.

Earlier planting was delayed by wet conditions; however the weather has improved allowing France’s planting to surge recently from 38% to 62% complete but slightly below crop’23 at 74% and a 5-year average of 80%. The weather forecast is good and a rapid close to seeding is expected (to the 5-year average). Planted area is expected to be unchanged to down only 1-2%.
Russia’s sharp drop in barley production, to 16.7 mln tonnes, likely reducing global trade volumes as a result.

The extreme drop off in barley exports from the EU-27, driven by a weak demand environment leaves a very comfortable supply in the world’s largest barley producing region, despite the smaller French winter crop.