EU Intervention Update

The latest figures from the EU Commission reveal that 2.8 MMT of grain has been accepted into the EU-27 intervention programme so far this season, with a further 2.3 MMT under offer. Almost all of it is barley.

That is added to beginning stocks of 925,000 MT of barley going into the current season, plus 569,000 MT of corn and a small amount of wheat and sorghum. that's around 6.6 MMT of grain intervention to dispose of, should everything that's offered be accepted.

Of that we've managed to "sell" 367,000 MT so far with a further 1.2 MMT committed. I say "sell" as almost all of that tonnage has actually been given away. So we are looking at a round figure of 5 MMT of intervention barley stocks potentially getting carried into 2010/11, plus whatever else gets accepted between now and then.

Accepted/under offer volumes to date by individual country include Germany 1.54 MMT; France 1.05 MMT; Finland 700,000 MT; Hungary 560,000 MT; Czech Rep 300,000 MT; Poland 275,000 MT; UK 142,000 MT.