EU Barley Pouring Into Intervention

With the current depressed price of barley, and lack of a decent premium for malting varieties, 1.56 MMT of grains have already been offered into intervention during the first fortnight of the programme being open.

Whilst a small amount of wheat has been offered, the vast majority of that total is barley.

At this rate, trade estimates that EU-wide 4-6 MMT of mostly barley could be offered for intervention before the season ends on 30 June 2010, might prove to be far too low. That should take up some of the slack, and do exactly what intervention is designed to do.

The fact that there won't be any barley intervention for the 2010 crop, but stores full of it, will surely have led to a greater reduction in plantings than the 6% drop currently being forecast by Strategie Grains. Nobody is that stupid. Are they???