Malting barley at current levels supported by a stable feed barley market

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Despite the very tight supply with normal and good quality malting barley in the EU, the EU malting barley prices fell sharply in recent weeks. Now, they have probably reached a level at which, given the scarcity, one can no longer talk of a reasonable price level compared to feed barley prices. The lack of industry demand for malting barley was indicated as the main reason for the weakness, which was not the case for feed barley. A stable demand of feed barley importers and traders and the reduced availability made feed barley prices drop much less, than wheat and malting barley prices in the same period.

A rise in malt and malting barley demand could quickly lead to higher malting barley prices and premiums over feed barley, whereas the possibility of falling prices is limited. Only if feed barley prices also fell, malting barley prices could see further significant losses.