NORTHERN hemisphere new-crop barley price calculation influenced the result of last week’s tender in which Saudi Arabia bought 25 cargoes, totaling around 1.5 million tonnes (Mt), of feed barley for arrival in July and August at an average price of US$229/t cost and freight.

The offers accepted by the Saudi government buying agency were about $20/t cheaper than its previous purchase in April, reflecting an inverse between the relatively high price of current-crop barley stock and discounted new-crop shipment from European and/or Black Sea ports (Chart 1: tender price result is shown as the orange line).

Chart 1: The average price per tonne in Saudi Arabia’s latest barley tender was down slightly on the previous. (Source: Saudi Grains Organisation.)

Trade sources reported those supplying optional-origin barley included Glencore on 15 cargoes, LDC with six, COFCO with two, and Casillo and Western Australia’s CBH Group with one each.

Six cargoes were booked for discharge at the Gulf port of Dammam, and the remaining cargoes are to discharge at the Red Sea ports of Jeddah and Gizan.

Barley purchased by Saudi Arabia in calendar 2018 would amount to about 5.2Mt for arrival January to July, compared with around 5.5Mt in the same period last year.

Saudi Arabia imports more than 7Mt of feed barley per annum.