Germany: Winter barley plantings were 1.433 million ha, 5,4 % more than last year. Winterkill is estimated to be around 5%. Spring barley will be seeded on about 670 thousand ha versus 611 thousand a year ago, in Bavaria the plus is estimated at 15 - 20 %. The estimated deficit is 200 thousand tons greater than last campaign, at the halfway mark sales by farmers are only 100 thousand tons less and imports only 58 thousand tons up. But malt production is totally unchanged.

30 April, 2003