Prices for feed barley in Ukraine have decreased, while prices for brewing barley have reached their highest level in the season

After an increase in export demand for feed barley in Ukraine in late March and early April, caused by the need for traders to close contracts, purchase prices have started to fall in recent weeks, despite a sharp increase in feed corn prices. International traders have completed the purchase of old-crop barley and started contracting the new crop at significantly lower prices.

In the ports of the Black Sea, the demand prices for feed barley decreased to 10,100–10,200 UAH/t or 217–220 $/t, while the prices for feed wheat remained at 10,550–10,650 UAH/t, and for corn they reached a seasonal maximum of 11,000–11,100 UAH/t or 235–238 $/t.

During April 1-17, barley exports decreased compared to the same period in March by almost half – from 48 to 25 thousand tons, which is significantly lower than the 170 thousand tons for this period last year. In total, in the MY 2024/25 (as of April 17), Ukraine exported 2.24 million tons of barley, which is 5% higher than the corresponding figure of the previous season (2.132 million tons).

Due to high export prices for feed barley and low demand for malting barley at the beginning of the season, many farmers sold malting barley as feed, which led to a shortage of malting barley supply at the end of the season and a sharp increase in demand prices. Currently, brewers have increased prices for malting barley to 11,400–12,000 UAH/t delivered to the factory, but there are almost no offers of quality barley.

World barley prices have traditionally begun to decline before the new season, which was confirmed by the latest tender in Jordan, where on April 23, the Ministry of Industry and Trade purchased 50,000 tons of feed barley of any origin from Solaris for delivery on August 1–15 at a price of $232/ton C&F, which is $4.5/ton lower than the purchase price at the tender on March 19 with the same delivery terms.

Barley was also offered at the tender by Bunge ($242.5/t), Dreyfus ($238.5/t), Al Dahra ($237/t), Cargill ($235.9/t) and Viterra ($262.5/t).

Tags: Ukraine, barley, prices, malting barley