New-Crop Malting Barley Prices Fail To Excite

Farmers in Western Canada are less than enthusiastic about early new crop malting barley prices. Rahr Malting Canada Ltd. in Alix, Alberta had been offering between $4.25 to $4.50 (farm gate) for 2009-10 malting barley but those prices were met with minimal interest from farmers, said Kevin Sich, the barley manager for the Minnesota-based malt

World’s beer market seen flat in economic crisis

Worldwide consumption of beer could remain flat this year as the economic downturn hurts demand after several years of impressive growth, industry players said at a gathering in northern France on Feb. 5. “With the financial cri -sis, market conditions are changing. The big question mark is no longer supply but demand,” said Alain Caekaert,


Cashplus Only Malt Option Now

The Canadian Wheat Board moved last week to protect record returns to its malting barley pool from volatile and declining world prices. The CWB announced last week further malting barley sales will now be made through its CashPlus option. That way the value of the pool won’t be eroded by lower-priced sales, said CWB spokeswoman

Larger pool

CashPlus / from page 1 than the average and seven per cent higher than last crop year’s final return, Fitzhenry said. “So it’s (the current pool’s value) worth protecting,” she added. Not only are farmers looking at a record-high malting barley pool return, the CWB expects to export a record volume of at least 1.4


Canadian feed barley will stay close to home

Canada is not expected to be a major feed barley exporter this year, as domestic prices should remain more attractive to farmers, according to market sources. While feed barley prices in Western Canada continue to weaken and have more room to the downside, international prices are considerably lower which should keep Canada out of the

Shrinking loonie supports CWB PROs

A weaker Canadian dollar and a “dramatic drop” in ocean freight rates are supporting the Canadian Wheat Board’s latest pool return outlooks (PRO) for wheat. Wheats rose $5 per tonne in the November 2008-09 PROs released last Thursday. For example, the PRO value for No. 1 Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) at 14.5 per cent


Big EU harvest cheers brewers, not drinkers

“ This price reduction provides a certain amount of relief on brewers’ costs… but a beer retail price cut is not to be expected.” – German beverage industry analyst Reiner Klinz Europe’s big barley crop has caused a sharp fall in prices for brewing malt, but while breweries may benefit, beer drinkers will have little