The EU grain crop was 25 million tonnes lower than last year, the total European grain crop 75 million tonnes below the figure of 2002, caused by crop failures of wheat and maize, not so much by barley. Supplies of wheat and feed grains are very tight, malting barley stocks were abundant, but are shrinking constantly due to sales of quality barley to feed compounders, experts said. In the EU the bad supply situation is aggravated by restrictive import rules. In Poland, Ukraine and most Balkan countries governments have introduced tax-free quotas and have thereby facilitated cheaper access to their markets for imported grains. In the EU it is said that millers and feed compounders are short from January onwards, and that a new purchase wave of all grains will push markets up in January. After accession of 10 new member countries on the 1st of May of 2004 it is expected that some new members, e.g. Poland, will need to buy substantial quantities of grains from the old EU. Real relief will only come from the crop of 2004. Winter grain plantings are in good shape in Western Europe, less so in the East.

10 December, 2003