As of 4 April, the cost of Ukrainian barley on the terms of FOB deepwater ports of Ukraine increased to $208-218 per MT that is 27% higher than the price level for the same period last year, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club association (UCAB) has reported. The association said on its website that such a price for domestic grain crop is a record since the end of 2014.
“The key factor in the steady increase in barley prices over the past few months was the unstable demand from Saudi Arabia, which is the key importer of this grain in the world. In 2017, Ukraine shipped 2.07 million tonnes of barley to this country, which accounted for 57% of total exports,” analyst of agricultural markets of the UCAB Ilha Kharabara said.
This year, demand from Saudi Arabia is not sustainable – tenders for the purchase are infrequent, but volumes are quite significant. At the last tender, the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) announced the purchase of 1 million tonnes of barley, at the previous one was purchased 0.96 million tonnes.
The tense world balance at the beginning of the marketing year supported the price increase for barley – world production fell to 142.4 million tonnes in 2017/2018, which is 3.5 million tonnes less than last year.
