Barley: Characteristics
Plump, low-protein kernels: the maltster's wish list
Plump, low-protein kernels: the maltster's wish list What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 142 Mt (FAOSTAT 2024); 160.1 Mt forecast for 2026/27 | Barley is the fourth-largest grain. Russia, Australia, Germany, France, Canada and Turkey lead national output; the EU as a bloc grows about a third. | FAOSTAT 2024; USDA PSD 2026/27 |
| Inventory and stock levels | world ending stocks 23.5 Mt forecast for 2026/27, 15.0% of use, about 55 days; 20.6 Mt in 2025/26 | Stocks sit with farmers, cooperatives and maltsters. The EU holds about 5.9 Mt. Saudi Arabia's GFSA holds state reserves of imported feed barley. India has an MSP for barley but no buffer norm. | USDA PSD; content of this tile |
| Capacity utilisation | not published for barley farming; malting capacity is tracked by company | Boortmalt reports about 3.1 Mt of malt capacity (2025) and is cutting up to 0.3 Mt, a sign of spare capacity as beer volumes fall in Europe. Soufflet has 2.36 Mt plus United Malt's 1.25 Mt. | Grain Central; inside.beer (2025-2026) |
| Geographic and producer concentration | top country Russia 11.7%, top-3 (Russia, Australia, Germany) 28.6%, HHI 520 (2024); exports: Australia 22.6%, top-3 52.7% of value (2023) | Output is spread widely, but imports are concentrated: China took 39.9% of import value. In malting, Boortmalt and Soufflet (with United Malt) together hold about 6.7 Mt of capacity. | FAOSTAT 2024; UN Comtrade 2023; company data |
| Supply elasticity | short-run high: one season, easy switching with wheat and canola | Farmers decide each autumn or spring between barley, wheat and oilseeds, so area responds to the price ratio within a year. Malting supply is less elastic, because only some varieties and seasons make malting grade. | USDA; industry practice |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | small new malting capacity; no big farm expansion tracked | In India, the UB-Soufflet Rajasthan malt plant starts with 110 kt of malt capacity and will source up to 250 kt of barley a year at full build-out. In Europe malting capacity is being trimmed. | inside.beer, Feb 2026 |
| Logistics and export flows | about 37 Mt exported in 2025/26, about a quarter of output | Australia (11.5 Mt) and the EU (9.4 Mt) lead exports, with Russia, Argentina, Canada and Ukraine. Main flows: Australia and France to China; Black Sea and EU to Saudi Arabia. Chinese anti-dumping duties on Australian barley (2020-2023) showed how one buyer can redirect trade. | USDA 2025/26; UN Comtrade 2023 |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Barley is priced as malting or feed grain. Maltsters want plump, low-protein kernels that germinate evenly, so the starch converts to sugar in the brewhouse. Grain that misses the spec is sold as feed at a discount. Test weight and moisture matter for both. Protein that is too high gives hazy beer and less extract; too low starves yeast.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | malting barley typically 9.5-11.5% (dry basis) | Outside this band maltsters reject or discount the lot | European Brewery Convention practice; maltster contracts (indicative) |
| Germination energy | at least 95-98% | Grain that will not sprout cannot be malted | EBC / maltster specs (indicative) |
| Plumpness (screenings) | at least 80-90% retained on a 2.5 mm screen | Plump grain gives more extract per tonne | maltster contracts (indicative) |
| Moisture | at most 13.5-14.5% | Safe storage and less weight paid for water | EU intervention and trade contracts (indicative) |
| Test weight (specific weight) | feed barley around 62 kg/hl minimum in EU trade | Proxy for starch content and feed value | EU intervention standard (indicative) |
| Variety and purity | approved malting varieties, single variety lots | Brewers buy by variety for consistent malt | national malting variety lists |