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Losing favor among local farmers

July 7, 2017 at 7:57 AM , Starry Night Ltd.
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Yields have been encouraging so far, although projected output will be lower than that of last season.

The great majority of barley was harvested right before the recent hailstorms hit, and as a result, possible damages will be minor, if of any significance.

Barley: losing favor among local farmers

SOFIA. This year, farmers are harvesting 130,068 ha of barley fields. By the end of last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, estimated average yield on a national level stood at close to 5.0 mt/ha. Aggregate average yield of harvest 2016-17 was estimated at 4.3 mt/ha. Even though average yield is estimated to be higher, aggregate output this year could well be somewhat less than 600,000 mt because farmers planted by about 20.3% less land than they did during the previous year. Soon the sky will clear for the results to appear.

Harvest 2016-17

(01.07.2016 - 30.06.2017)

Carry over

4,900  mt

Domestic output

697,787 mt

Domestic consumption

321,900 mt

Exports to the world

373,796 mt

 Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

 Reasons for cultivating lower acreages of barley

The price of barley is much lower than that of wheat or, indeed, that of rapeseed. In addition, exports have been weak on a yearly basis. A case in point, according to the Agricultural Ministry, during the marketing season of harvest 2016-17, encompassing the period 04.07.2016 - 02.07.2017, via Varna seaport were exported 17,379 mt of barley, which is 88.3% less than what had been exported via the same sea route the year before. Via Burgas seaport, during the same period, only 6,500 mt of the crop were shipped abroad. In comparison, the demand for other locally grown crops have been consistently increasing!

Barley, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

feed barley

0.127

EXW Bulgaria

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