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Barley: Annually, total exports trail behind

March 15, 2018 at 12:54 PM , Starry Night Ltd.
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SOFIA. Shipped volumes to non-EU markets weigh in heavily in pushing down total exports. For some fields, the weather is still a double-edge sword.

BULGARIA. The higher than normal temperatures for the month necessitated the quicker melting of the recently fallen heavy snow, which in return led some rivers, unable to accommodate the stronger currents, to overflow their banks at places. Farmers observe that there are fields in the Northwest region that have been completely overflooded; for others, if not all over in water, definitely at some places. After closer inspections during the month, the results will become clear.

Barley: total exports trail behind on a yearly basis

By the end of last week, according to the most recently released data by local authorities, the country exported 294,137 mt of barley, which on an annual basis represents a fall of 21.31%. The drop is significant, and the main reason behind the foreign shipments’ fall is the lower export rate to markets outside the EU. On a year-to-year basis, sent volumes to markets outside the Union lag behind those of last year by 75.47%.

     Harvest 2017-18

(01.07.2017 - 09.03.2018)

         units in MT

Beginning availability

22,000

Aggregate output

633,393

Imports

5,314

Domestic consumption

216,000

   beer production

54,000

   feed

162,000

Exports to the world

294,137

   to EU markets

259,432

   to rest of the world

    34,705

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

Although the country is a small producer of the grain every year – and most probably will remain so in the short-term, if compared to regional producers and exporters, it does not possess the market clout other Black sea basin exporters such as Russia and Ukraine command over non-EU markets. In addition, the majority of barley is quickly bought out in the few months after harvest, making later purchases, for substantial export quantities, in the marketing season harder to organize. On the other side of the spectrum, however, shipped volumes to the markets of the EU lead those of last year by 11.67%. No drastic changes are expected on the foreign market fronts.

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