Barley use plummets as plantings at record levels
The release of the grain usage statistics for April have shown that barely use has slumped to its lowest figure for over a decade – with the figure back 28 per cent on the same month last year.
The first full month of data showing the implications of the Covid-19 lockdown revealed that just 114.7 thousand tonnes were utilised in total by the animal and human feed and drink sectors.
“The last time that barley usage in the brewing malting and distilling sectors fell below 120kt in a month was August 2009 when just 111.5kt was used,” said Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board analyst Thomma Shepherd.
She said that the sharp decline in usage was driven by the fall in demand from the food service sector due to lockdown.
“There have been reports of some maltsters reducing production levels due to the current pandemic,” said Shepherd.
“Likewise, it has been reported that some distilleries have pulled forward scheduled closures.”
She added that with current indications suggesting no imminent reopening of pubs and restaurants on the cards, it was likely that the reduced demand would continue for the rest of the 2019-20 season.
And she said that the continuation of lower demand against the backdrop of both higher stocks and record plantings of barley due to the poor sowing conditions of last autumn didn’t paint an optimistic picture for this year’s crop:
“Not good for a large production year and likely to weigh on barley closing stocks which are currently forecast to be the largest since 2015-16,” she concluded.
●There was little good news for the machinery sector in the most recent set of sales statistics which showed that tractors sales continued to bottom out in May.
With only 586 tractors registered during the month, the total represented a 42 per cent drop in sales compared with the figures achieved over the same month last year.
The statistics released this week by the trade organisation, the Agricultural Engineers Association, (AEA), showed a continuation in the 50.6 per cent slide seen in April – with coronavirus uncertainty and disruption seeing sales drop to levels last seen in 2001 during the UK’S foot and mouth epidemic.
The reduction saw the year to date figure stand 26.5 per cent behind those achieved by the same point in 2019.
A broad indicator of the strength of the domestic market for agricultural machinery, tractor sales are often taken to be a bellwether for overall sales in agricultural equipment.
However, with some tractor manufacturing factories being forced to shut down due to the Covid 19 crisis, dealers expressed the hope that delays in orders had also had an influence on the number of tractors which had actually been registered.
While much of the blame was being pinned to the effects of the virus pandemic, other issues such as one of the wettest winters on record in the UK and the continued uncertainties associated with Brexit and other trade negotiations were also likely to have played a part in the drop in sales, according to the AEA.