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Barley, a cereal grain derived from an annual grass,
is considered to be the fourth most important crop in the world after
maize, wheat and rice. Barley is cultivated as a summer crop in temperate
areas and as a winter crop in tropical areas. The crop has a short growing
season and is also relatively drought tolerant. It is a tender grain and
care needs to be taken in all stages of its growth and harvesting. Barley
comes under coarse cereals group along with corn/maize, sorghum, oats,
pearl millet and other minor millets are grouped together as coarse cereals.
Barley is used as feed for animals, as human food and barley malt
and is a key ingredient in beer and whisky production. Earlier feed use
was high but nowadays food and industrial consumption of barley has increased.
Barley World Production
Barley global production has been in the range of 130-140 million tonnes
in the recent years. However, for year 2008-09 it is estimated to have
risen sharply to 158 million tonnes. European Union is the largest producer
of barley accounting for around 40% of the world barley production. Russia,
Ukraine, Canada, Australia, Turkey and USA are the other major producers
of barley accounting for around 35%-40% of the total global production.
Canadian barley production dropped down to estimated 9.21 million tonnes
in 2009-10 due to strong world supplies and poor prices. Australian barley
production for 2010-11 is estimated at 7.6 million metric tonnes. Australia
exports around 50% of its production.The global trade for barley is at
around 17-18 million tons, accounting for more than 10% of the world production.
Though EU-27 is the largest producer of barley, Ukraine stands as the
biggest exporter of barley exporting around 4-5 million tons i.e. almost
40-50% of it production. Russia, Australia and EU-27 are the other major
suppliers of barley to world market.
Saudi Arabia is the major importer of barley importing 6-8
million tonnes i.e. 35-45% of the global trade. Saudi Arabia's imports
is mainly for feed purpose. China and Japan are the other big importers
in international market. The global malt production is estimated to be
around 22 million tonnes of which more than 90% is produced from barley.
94% of global malt production is used for making beer of which EU accounts
for approximately 42% of the world's malt production.
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