Malting Barley report from Gleadell

MALTING BARLEY by Stuart Shand, sales director

Stuart Shand, sales director, Gleadell Agriculture reports: "The EU harvest continues with France close to finishing its spring crop - yield and quality are excellent. Germany is reporting a mixed crop with the south being very good and the North poor. The Danish harvest has started and the first results are better than expected although we are sure that there are worse results to come. Overall we are still on course for a record EU crop.

"In the UK, most of the winter barley is harvested apart from around 15% in Yorkshire and 50% in the Scottish borders. Yields and quality continue to be as good as we have ever seen. The spring barley harvest has also started with reports of very big yields and very low nitrogen. All barley is very bold. As ever, rain is now causing concern for some of the early spring crops and prices have firmed slightly. We have 2009 buyback contracts available. Please contact your local farm trader for details," Mr Shand added.