Saudi Arabia buys 1 million mt of barley, pays 2.4% more

Saudi Arabia’s state grain buyer SAGO bought 1.02 million mt of barley at tender, paying 2.4% more than at its previous tender five weeks ago. SAGO paid an average $249.23/mt for seventeen 60,000 mt cargoes to be delivered into ports on the Red Sea and Gulf between mid-May and the end of June. The price paid shows the rally in global barley prices of late on the back of tightening supply, with SAGO paying an average $243.47/mt CFR for 960,000 mt at its previous tender in mid-February. With prices ranging from $238.47-$257.47/mt.

Turkey stepped up Ukrainian barley imports by 26%

Ukrainian exporters supplied 4.01 MMT of barley to foreign markets in the first eight months of the current marketing year that is 14% less than at the same time last season (4.67 MMT in July-February 2016/17). February barley exports were 53% less than in the previous month and down 67% on the year (201.9 KMT was shipped abroad in February 2017). The top importers of Ukrainian barley included Saudi Arabia, China, the European Union and Libya. The share of Turkey continues growing. Ukraine supplied over 167 KMT of barley to this market at the time, i.e. 26% more than for the entire last season.