Bulgarian barley: prices fell precipitously while domestic trade is sluggish

May 17, 2017 at 9:16 AM , Starry Night Ltd.
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Last week’s drop in prices seems to demand its toll this week, as well. Slow trade activity on the local market. Buyers’ eyes on the upcoming harvest.

 SOFIA. Barley is going through its ear formation and blossoming phases. The rainfalls a few weeks ago, infusing the soil with enough moisture, show good prospects for the crop.

Barley: prices continue to fall; trade activity is sluggish

Today, barley is traded for 0.132 EUR/kg CPT domestic port. In the end of last week, its price sank to 0.133 EUR/kg, falling precipitously from 0.146 EUR/kg CPT domestic port earlier in the week. Prices were expected to remain somewhat stable, which for the last two months stood on average at 0.147 EUR/kg, but could not resist further the weak domestic trade and lack of exports for some time. In addition, buyers are looking forward to the upcoming crop.  

The table below provides a snapshot of the main parameters of barley harvest 2016-17 and its domestic and foreign development trends.

Harvest 2016-17

(beginning of harvest till 12.05.2017)

Carry over

4,900mt

Domestic output

693,565mt

Domestic consumption

283,400mt

Exports to the world

373,796mt

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the 12.05.2017, reserves stood at 56,990 mt. Such remaining quantities will most surely satisfy only the local demand, which has been sluggish on a weekly basis.

Outlook for the upcoming harvest

By the first week of May 2017, to-be-harvested plots of barley stood at 129,665 ha. In comparison with those of last year (163,137 ha) by the same period, this year’s arable land stood by as much as 20.5% less. Barley seems to have lost its attractiveness among local farmers. As a result, domestic output will be negatively affected for the upcoming harvest; which is in line with the most recent projections for harvest 2017-18 by the USDA report on production and ending stocks on a global level and among the EU member countries.

Trading via sea ports during harvest 2016-17 was much weaker than that of harvest 2015-16. A case in point: since the start of the marketing season till the first week of May 2017, via Varna seaport were shipped out to foreign countries 17,379 mt of the crop, which represented a drop of 87.3% from exports during harvest 2015-16 via the same trade route.

For comparison, in the Black sea region, Ukrainian feed barley is sold for 158 USD/mt FOB.

Barley, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

feed barley

0.132

CPT domestic port

 

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