Argentina-Good barley crop.

ARGENTINA.

Barley crop good.

There has been 15% more land set aside for the planting of barley, for next years crop, which has gone from 436,000 hectares to over 500,000 hectares.

The 2007-2008 crop, came in at 1.46 million tons, which is the most barley produced for over 30 years in Argentina.

Farmers are switching from wheat to barley with the increased demand from the brewing industry, both in Argentina and overseas.

Export sales of barley totaled 548,000 tons for this year, Germany and Holland are the main buyers of malting barley for brewing.

The high quality barley for brewing, gives a far better return than barley for animal feeds.

Cargill have opened a plant in Rosario for malt, which has generated a lot of interest from farmers.