EU feed barley values gained US$20/t overnight as market shorts begin to panic about supplies. Growers are holding barley tightly, creating problems for traders endeavouring to keep the Black Sea export pipeline to Saudi open. Russia is unlikely to have any barley available for export and in the Ukraine where there is an export surplus, growers are holding barley from the market anticipating price increases.

The 2010 Australian Planting Survey results have been finalised, and generally speaking there were few surprises. Overall we received 1,540 responses, accounting for 2,349,016ha, which is 48% up on last year. In terms of the footprint on the grain belt by crop, the survey captured 1,265,426 wheat hectares (or around 10% of the national wheat crop based on ABS 5yr average), 331,655ha of Barley (7%), and an impressive 290,547ha of Canola (23%). Nationally the results show a small decrease in wheat plantings, a large drop in barley plantings and an increase in break crops of Canola and Pulses. Given dry conditions in QLD and a fall in winter crop plantings, growers in this and the intention of increasing summer crop hectares provided conditions are favourable.

Dry weather allowed harvesting in Russia and Ukraine to progress, but yields were expected to deteriorate as cutting moved into drought-affected areas. Prices in the EU rose sharply towards the end of last week, but reports of better than expected harvest results and ideas that the impact of dry weather may have been overstated, contributed to a weaker tone after the weekend.