Barley: All eyes on the upcoming harvest
May 18, 2018 at 2:23 PM ,
Starry Night Ltd.
BULGARIA. This year’s planting of Spring barley was quite belated because of earlier unfavorable weather conditions. Recently, farmers have hastened their planting campaigns throughout the country, but nevertheless their rapid pace of sowing, planted land still lags behind that of last year, by this time. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the 10th of May 2018, sowed area with Spring barley amounted to 2,575 ha while a year earlier, the figure stood at 3,051 ha. The difference of 15.6% is in favor of planted acreages last year, and since the campaign is drawing to an end, there will remain a shortfall difference. From now on, favorable weather conditions are what will distinguish a strong harvest from a weak one. In some fields within the Southeast, farmers are anxious about the development of their grains since rains have only sprinkled the ground; it places, farmers have not seen showers since beginning of March.
|
Harvest 2017-18 (01.07.2017 - 11.05.2018) units in MT |
|
|
Beginning availability |
22,000 |
|
Aggregate output |
599,457 |
|
Imports |
5,314 |
|
Domestic consumption |
294,000 |
|
beer production |
66,500 |
|
feed |
197,500 |
|
seeds |
30,000 |
|
Exports to the world |
311,828 |
|
to EU markets |
259,432 |
|
to rest of the world |
52,396 |
Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture
Barley: To no surprise, lower acreages expected
In approximately a month’s time, farmers will enter fields to harvest barley. The most recently released data, by the Ministry of Agriculture, places estimated land of sowed barley at 115,645 ha or by close to 11% lower than planted fields by that time last year. Such a figure does not come as a surprise on the market since in recent years, discouraged by lower prices and tough regional competition, farmers have (as if collectively) decided to lower their investment in barley. The country is a relatively small producer of the grain and will definitely remain so within the Black sea region for years to come. Such a prediction seems not to have taken a toll on local market sentiments, though. The majority of barley, which customarily gets exported to the markets of the EU, is usually bought out quickly after the end of a harvesting campaign.
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