Spring Barley 2008 Europe: Current Report

Heterogeneous spring barley in the EU

Just like in Germany, the spring barley in Europe turned out to be very heterogeneous. Nevertheless market experts expect the malthouses to have enough barley. There will be a surplus in the EU. There is talk of high yields, good protein values and high screenings in the EU, but also of too high protein and problems that were caused by the rain in some regions.

The French are especially satisfied with their results. The major part of the crop is malting barley. From the larger production compared to 2007 the major part of the production can be placed as malting barley. There is talk of an extraordinary harvest, concerning the yield and the quality. This is leading to the surplus in Europe.

In U.K. there’ s likewise talk of excellent yields, protein and screening, especially in the south. But the rain has slowed down the crop in Scotland and Yorkshire a lot which led to problems with pre-germination.

The Irish also talk about a very good yield. The bad weather in this land was responsible for the fact that the expected potential of malting barley could not be reached.

In the Netherlands the results were split into two groups. On the one hand there was the part that could be harvested early which was good in quality and quantity, but on the other hand there was the part that was harvested later with too high protein contents, just like in Germany.

In the Czech Republic and in the Slovak Republic they also report very good yields and qualities. Experts say, that the supply of malting barley is enough, even if the rainfalls in the summer have caused mouldiness in the eastern part of Slovakia.

In Poland the crop was split into two regions, as expected: While the yields were good in the south, the crops in the north suffered from the rain. The protein values were too high for malting barley.

Special problems occurred in Scandinavia. A large part of the seed was brought out late. That is the reason why a large part of the harvest in Denmark was disappointing in respect of yield and protein. Only 30 % of the harvest could be used as brewing barley. In Sweden, the results were not very satisfying as well due to the long lasting rainfalls during the summer months in the middle part of Sweden: Even if the screening was alright, the protein values were too high, especially in the south after a long aridity. The amount of the malting barley could not be defined until mid-October, but it is probably going to be very small. From Finland, experts talk about very good protein and whole grain values. Losses were caused by pre-germination and mildew.

The qualities for brewing barley in the German growing areas were very different this year. The long period of sowing and the low rainfall during the period of growing led to worse results than expected. The malting barley was good to very good in the regions where it was sowed early and where the amount of rain was high enough. In most parts of Germany, the harvest was brought in dry. The Braugerstengemeinschaft e.V., München, reports that crops, that were sowed and harvested late, had to suffer under microorganisms and higher protein. The average yield of 48.9dt /ha, which is higher than the 43.4 dt from last year needs to be estimated as good. The average of 11.3% protein value is in a region of good malting barley.

Despite the heterogeneous qualities that were harvested in Europe experts expect a surplus of malting barley in the EU. The extent is valued differently. The result of this good supply is the decline of prices since a couple of weeks. The financial crisis and the dropping prices for the grain market also play a role. What kind of signal this development of the market sends to next year’ s seed remains to be seen.