# Barley

A hardy temperate cereal grown mainly for animal feed and malt, traded in large volumes to the Middle East and China.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/

Grains · No. 88

- Not on a critical list
- HHI 520 · unconcentrated
 Grains · Foundation · Matter

Barley feeds beer, whisky and, in Saudi Arabia, camels, whose hunger worried rulers during the 2008 food crisis.

Chart: Illustration: Barley

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Barley is among the hardiest cereals, coping with cold, drought and salty soils better than wheat. World output was 142.0 Mt in 2024.

##### Three things to know

1. World barley output was 142.0 Mt in 2024, still below the 179.1 Mt harvested in 1990 after Soviet livestock herds shrank.
2. China took 39.9% of world barley imports in 2024, for brewing and pig feed, and Saudi Arabia 9.6%.
3. In 1974 the five big grain merchants handled 90% of Canada's barley exports.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Cool farmland**Winter or spring barley sown
2. 2 **Harvest**Combine harvested and dried
3. 3 **Grading**Sorted into malting or feed quality
4. 4 **Malting**Steeped, germinated and kilned, or milled
5. 5 **End uses**Beer, whisky and livestock feed
 Covered in [How commodities tradeCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/how-commodities-trade/)[Muscles, wood, water and wind: energy before fossil fuelsEnergy](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/energy/energy-before-fossil-fuels/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barley/links/index.md)