Pressure on barley prices in Ukraine is increasing due to falling corn and meal prices and demand from importers

Low export demand for feed barley in Ukraine in September was still somewhat offset by domestic demand from processors, but a sharp drop in domestic prices for corn and sunflower, caused by increased supply, is lowering prices for raw materials for feed mills and animal fattening complexes, which is increasing pressure on feed barley prices.

Export demand prices for feed barley remain at the level of 6500–7000 UAH/t or 140–150 $/t with delivery to Danube ports, but the number of buyers is very limited, and the cost of delivery from different regions of Ukraine has increased to 2500–3500 UAH/t, which makes deliveries from practically central or northern Ukraine impractical for sellers. Prices for feed corn have decreased to 4500–5000 UAH/t on terms of delivery to the elevator, and for sunflower cake – to 4000–4500 UAH/t on terms of FCA-factory.

Processors have reduced purchase prices for feed barley to UAH 5,000-5,500/t (with delivery to the mill) and are conducting limited purchases amid a large supply.

Malt mills are also purchasing limited amounts of spring malting barley at UAH 6,700–6,800/t with delivery to the enterprise, and some have stopped accepting it due to a lack of free storage capacity.

Barley exports from Ukraine for 19 days of October amounted to only 25 thousand tons (compared to 153 thousand tons in September 2025), and in total since the beginning of the 2026/27 MY reached 473 thousand tons (compared to 1.03 million tons for the same period last season) with a forecast for the current season at 2.5–3 million tons.

According to Agritel, physical prices for French feed barley have decreased by €7/t since the beginning of October to €208/t or $233/t FO-Rouen, while prices for spring malting barley have increased by €10/t to €238/t FOB-Cray amid increased supply of feed corn and wheat, as well as lower prices in recent importer tenders.

Jordan's state procurement agency MIT purchased about 50,000 tons of feed barley from the French company Soufflet in an international tender on October 21 at an estimated price of $302.25/ton C&F with delivery in the first half of February 2027.

The tender also offered barley from Al Ghurair (at a price of $305.95/t C&F), Olam ($308.95/t), Bunge ($309/t), and Dreyfus ($311/t). For comparison, in the previous tender on October 14, Jordan purchased about 60,000 tons of feed barley at $307/t C&F for delivery in the second half of January 2027.

On September 23, Tunisia purchased barley from the companies Soufflet, Al Ghurair, and Bunge in three batches of 25,000 tons at a price of $304.23-307.62/ton C&F with delivery from October 20 to November 30 of this year.