Barley
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
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