Malteurop Australian Barley Harvest | Crop Report | 2024 update

It is amazing how each barley harvest is different and each season is unique. At Malteurop Australia we are pleased to say we are excited by prospect of the quality of barley being produced this season. This year we have seen very little growing season rain and spring frosts – which have hampered yields and made for a very tough year.

The saying it is darkest before the dawn and nothing could be more trues of barley in Australia this year. Current forecast is for 11.4 million tonnes of Barley crop and 3 million tonnes barley crop in our catchment area of Victoria and Southern New South Wales.

Australian Growing Regions:

Northern New South Wales and Queensland have had what can only be described as an act of Karma. Yields have been out of this world, with many bulk handlers looking at options to extend capacity of their site to take in the additional volumes. The quality is fantastic, making it an exceptional year for growers in the north east of the country.

The Victorian and Southern NSW grower has done an exceptional job on minimal rain in the growing season and large scale frost damage. Despite all these factors malt selection is currently running between 40% – 50% and yields in selected spots at average or better – which has defied all speculation.

South Australia is having a similar run to the recent Mike Tyson fight, in that it looked good for the first round of the growing season, but it has looked average for some time now.

Western Australia made a massive comeback on yield but its malt selection rate is struggling around 17% (Normally 25%+).

Australia has entered into a faze of change in terms barley varieties grown.

Spartacus and Planet are becoming less prominent, with Maximus being very popular. Neo is the new kid on the block and is popular amongst growers, so watch out for it moving forward. Internally we have been spending a lot of our time looking at the pipeline of barley varieties in Australia and what will be the next big thing! So watch this space!

Globally the cost of living crunch is hitting all grain commodities, moving away from a market of uncertainty to a tight margin, low demand one. With the election of The Donald, in the United States, lets see if this holds. Already there is escalation in Russian and Ukraine.

From Malteurop Australia we are again proud of the barley our growers are putting together and look forward to sampling the end product!

Cheers #GrowHappy #MaltHappy #BrewHappy #DistilSafely

Eric Fisher | Grain Sourcing Specialist
Malteurop Australia and New Zealand