EU malt export licence bookings from July 1, 2003, until April 27, 2004 were 2.013 million tonnes. The figure is close to the total bookings of 2.038 million tonnes last year. If licence fixations continued at an unchanged pace, then totals for this year could be 2.4 million tonnes, a plus of 350-400 thousand tonnes as compared to 2002/2003, market analysts revealed in a statement. Although the final figure may not be as high, two facts are fairly obvious already now: - 1) Last year’s low figure must have been caused by technical factors, viz slow deliveries during one or two months. As physical exports were 2.373 million tonnes in 2002 (figures for 2003 are not available yet), one can assume a rather steady export pace between 2.2 and 2.4 million tonnes from the year 2000 till today. – 2) It is also obvious that losses of sales to South America, Japan and Russia have not yet led to an overall loss of exports, but have been compensated by gains to other destinations.

12 May, 2004