EU spring barley crop down on year but good average

The European Union is likely to have a good crop of spring barley in 2015 for beer and malt production, but down on last year's bumper harvest, crop experts said on Friday. "Overall crops are looking well, although there is dryness in parts of Spain and north Europe," one grains analyst said. "I think the EU will have a good average malting barley crop for beer brewing but we will not reach the huge harvest we had last year."
"Supplies will be decent but smaller than last year, but it is too early to talk about an additional import requirement." French consultancy Strategie Grains estimates total malting barley production in the European Union in 2015 at 12.4 million tonnes, down from 13.3 million last season.
Crops are developing well in France, by far the largest EU producer, although dryness in the north-east is a concern. France will see the largest fall in output this season, with a drop of over 500,000 tonnes on the year to 4.2 million tonnes estimated after French farmers reduced plantings by 12.7 percent. Some 93 percent of French spring barley was in good or excellent condition on May 25, down from 95 percent a week earlier but still the highest rating for the period in the past five years, farm office FranceAgriMer said.
Britain's spring barley sowings are complete with progress broadly in line with recent years, crop consultants ADAS said. ADAS said pest and disease levels were low but weed control was variable with high black-grass populations present in some fields. Black-grass, a weed that can reduce yields, has become widespread in England.
Analysts expect the spring barley area in Britain may have risen slightly this year as part of a shift towards spring cropping. Lower grain prices have reduced the incentive to plant higher-yielding winter crops while the later spring planting window also provides farmers with an increased opportunity to step up efforts to control weeds such as black-grass. The UK spring barley area for the 2014 harvest was 651,000 hectares with a 3.81 million tonne 2014 crop.
German spring barley sowings are also finished and a 5.8 percent increase is expected on the year to 365,000 hectares, the Germany's farming cooperatives association estimates. Plants are in good condition despite concern about dryness in central Germany but last year's exceptionally high yields are unlikely to be repeated which will reduce Germany's 2015 harvest by 1.6 percent to 2.03 million tonnes, the association estimates.