Chinese barley crop for 2003 looks like a total of 1.6 million tonnes, while in 2002 it was only 1.9 million tonnes. Meanwhile Chinese malting barley crop could reach 1.01 million tonnes in 2003 versus 1.33 million tonnes in 2002. And that is after heavy losses in Hei Long Jiang and Jiang Su, where the crop of malting barley decreased from 350 thousand tonnes in 2002 to 150 thousand tonnes in 2003 each. Local maltsters will use all available supplies. Import of barley in July 2002/June 2003 was 2.023 million tonnes, of which 1.335 million tonnes from Australia, 0.543 million tonnes from France and only 0.123 million tonnes from Canada. Total needs of malting barley in 2003 are seen at 3 million tonnes, as Chinese brewers have reduced the malt percentage in beer as much as possible. There has been no market for imported barley since a few months.

30 September, 2003