UK & China: Chinese market now open to British barley

UK’s cereal growers are on the verge of a "brave new world" as the Chinese market is now open to exports of barley, AHDB Cereals has said.

This year, the Chinese are looking to import seven million tonnes and the UK could have as much as 150,000 tonnes worth £20 million available.

All the necessary permissions are now in place to give the UK access to mainland China which is a massive and growing market.

Though the harvest has not yet finished there will be a surplus which could find a ready home in the Far East as China requires grain from assured sources.

AHDB Head of Crops Export Trade Development, Rob Burns said: “Our export team worked for years to gain access to the market and now we have opened the doors, it is a market that can be developed.

“We are in a strong position as in previous years we have had about a million tonnes of barley available for export each year.”

Demand for barley in China has been growing fuelled by a large and fast-growing beer market while domestic production has, at the same time, been in decline.

30 August, 2016