EU hopes to sell barley to Middle East. The European Union wants to sell some of its 60 million tonnes into North Africa or the Middle East, and one analyst says that will set prices for the coming months. Grain growers will know in the next few days how much key markets like Saudi Arabia are willing to pay for feed barley, The ABC National Rural News revealed on October 14.

It's put out a restitution tender, a system of subsidies where the EU offers its grain to buyers, then tops up the return to growers. While that'll influence world prices, Lloyd George from Farm Horizons hopes it won't be too much.

"My feeling is that the EU will not be overly aggressive on the restitutions, and they'll be mindful of where world price is and they will not be wanting to push world prices down any further than where they are at the moment; and it's certainly not in their interest to do so, because in effect it means that they'll have to be paying greater subsidies."

15 October, 2004