Malting Barley Report June 5, 2012 Sweden Drilling is finally completed in all parts of Sweden. Drilling started earlier than normal in the south, west and east part of Sweden and a god part of the malting barley acreage was drilled earlier than normal in these parts. According to Swedish Board of Agriculture the expected acreage of spring barley should reach 365 000 hectare compared to 313 000 hectare 2011. We expect an unchanged selection compared to last year. South of Sweden Drilling completed earlier than normal. After a period with low temperatures during April and early May temperatures have been much higher the last weeks. South of Sweden has had limited amounts of rain since drilling and could definitely do with some rain during within the near future. West and East of Sweden Approximately 40% of the malting barley was drilled two weeks before eastern (two weeks earlier than normal) in the east and west of Sweden. These parts had good amounts of rain during second half April which was beneficial for the drilled acreage but also delayed the final drilling. Lake of Mälaren The middle part of Sweden had quite some rain during April and drilling around the lake of Mälaren started at about normal time. Drilling was followed by quite some rain causing problems with crust in the soil which means reduced number of plants per square metre. Farmers have are trying to reduce the problems with crust by rolling but in quite some cases reseeding has also been necessary. We expect 10-20% of the acreage of spring crops around the lake of Mälaren to be reseeded. Even though it s in the middle part of Sweden seeding the 2nd half of May is on the late side affecting the yield potential. Conclusion An increased area of spring and malting barley combined with the early start of the sowings made things looking very promising during April. But problems with the seed quality, rather dry conditions in the south, delayed drilling and then crust problems in the middle make us a little bit less optimistic. Even though each single problem is rather small they will have some effect on the coming crop
West 15% of the malting barley production in Sweden. 10 th 15 th of April (south part). 20 th -30 th of April (north part). 50% of the malting barley drilled before eastern which was earlier than normal. Remaining 50% drilled during first half of May, somewhat later than normal. Lake of Mälaren 30% of the malting barley production in Sweden. 25 th of April-10 th of May. Drilling started at about normal time during good conditions but 50-100 mm of rain just after drilling caused problems with crust in the fields. Farmers tried to break the crust with harrow or roller but in some cases reseeding was necessary. o Viking Malt East 15% of the malting barley production in Sweden. 5 th 15 th of April (south part). 20 th -30 th of April (north part). 50% of the malting barley drilled before eastern which was earlier than normal. Remaining acreage drilled during first half of May, somewhat later than normal. Skåne (South) 40% of total malting barley production in Sweden. Normal drilling time 25 th of March until 15 th of April. Drilling completed by Eastern. In general only limited amounts of rain since drilling. Crop hasn t suffered but some good amounts of rain is now needed (and forecasted). Problem with low field germination causing less number of plants per square metre.
Finland Sowings The works are close to complete in Southern Finland after almost two weeks of dry and warm period. Some heavy rains caused some delays in sowings during the last weekend but most of the rain fallen in the east. In statistics, May was rather wet, that explains the slight delay and variation in sowings. Sowing situation 31.5: Area Sowings I Zone* >90 % II Zone >70 % III Zone >50 % IV Zone <50% *malting barley area The sowed fields are proceeding in different phases due to long sowing period. Some fields are already sprouting and quality of those fields is rather good. Some minor amount of fields has to be reworked due to heavy showers caused crusting. The weather forecast expects the medium temperatures (16-18 C daytime) with some showers for the coming week to Southern Finland. The outlook for the coming crop is still good. Utilized areas for crop 2012 With regard to the use of Finland s cultivated area of 2.3 million hectares, the largest changes in 2012 were (based on the farmers sowing data in May): increase in the cultivation area of grains (+66,000 hectares) and decrease in the turnip rape area (- 25,000 hectares)
The cultivation area of grains, 1,170,000 hectares, has increased by 6% compared to 2011. The barley area, 505,000 hectares, is 9% larger than in 2011. Utilized agricultural area in 1990-2012e Barley sowing areas 1995-2012e
Lithuania Last week heavy rains have caused some flooding to the fields with clayish soil. Farmers were worried about that some crop was under water, but not for a long time. Other fields are looking good especially winter crop which is anticipated to be a record high yield this year. In general malting barley looks good in range 8-9 out of 10 as farmers have put. Rooting is going to its final stage, the plants as good as expected and yield anticipated is 6 tons/ha. Price notifications for malting barley: Crop 2011 Crop 2012 FOB DK / SE 230 /t* June 2012 211 /t 1.h. October FOB UK 227 June 2012 214 /t 1.h. October *If available and with approved analysis results on delivery samples