Argentina: Both malting and feed barley prices slightly down in Argentina

Prices for both malting and feed barley are down slightly for crop’24 in Argentina, mainly in step with the global price direction and also supported by the beneficial rains recently, RMI Analytics said in their latest Journal.

There has been interest (and trade) in feed barley destined to the Middle East, and buyers are still showing interest but their bids remain lower than the published levels. However, limited farmer selling is a barrier to the trading of larger volumes and this situation is expected to hinder trade until harvest rolls forward. This is generally a positive development as Argentina needs replacement markets to replace (in part) Chinese volumes captured by Australia and the Middle East and other South American destinations are potential solutions. The trade is monitoring closely the weather in Brazil to see if an incremental demand for imported malting barley is created by these heavy rains.

Statistically, the RMI Barley Price Model’s forecast for Argentina’s malting barley is a gradual slide lower, as this origin fights to remain competitive in capturing volumes in world trade.