Australia's Barley Pool Forecasts Raised

DONALD - Mar 1/01 - STAT -- Projected returns from this season's malting barley pool were boosted A$10 per metric tons (MT) while the feed barley pool was boosted $7 MT by the Australian Barley Board.

Managing Director, Michael Iwaniw said, "This brings the gross pool indicator for Sloop malting to $240 - $245 MT (GST exclusive), $264 - $269.50 MT (GST inclusive) and the feed pool to $185 - $190 MT (GST exclusive), $203.50 - $209 MT (GST inclusive) putting it well above that of last year," said Iwaniw.

"This increase in the indicator is reflective of ABB’s intensive and continued marketing efforts in the international arena on the back of several influences.

"In general, tight world stocks of malting and feed barley have made barley the star in the 2000-01 grain complex and ABB has worked hard to extract the maximum benefit from this for growers."

Iwaniw said this was reflected in the good prices the pool was indicating, with the Pool performing favorably relative to cash prices on offer.

"The Pool now offers a return as good as any cash prices on offer during the year and indeed the majority of grain sold for cash attracted much lower prices than the Pool is indicating. This is the strength of the pool, it evens out the troughs and peaks - which are part and parcel of the domestic cash market - and provides a steady option for all the grain in the Pool to realize returns generally above cash prices."

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