ABB Closing 2001-02 Barley Pool

DONALD - May 29/02 - SNS -- The Australian Barley Board is closing its 2001-02 marketing pools for barley effective June 13, generating up to a A$48 per metric ton (MT) final payment to participating growers in South Australia and Victoria.

ABB Managing Director, Michael Iwaniw said the level of the final distribution of funds from the 2000-01 barley pool will put the total price achieved by the pool well above estimates made during that season's harvest.

"The 2000-01 pool has achieved total returns of $185.54 MT for feed and up to $245.10 MT for malting which are both about $30 MT above estimations made in early October 2000," said Iwaniw.

"We are pleased to be delivering this excellent result to growers with barley in the pool as its success is evidence of the advantages that pools can offer in a rising market."

The final payment for malting barley will be $48.10 MT for No. 1 pool, and $21.10 MT for subsequent pools. For feed the final payment will be $18.54 MT for the No. 1 pool and $13.54 MT for subsequent pools. The only deductions from the payment will be for research and national residue levies and malting barley payments will be subject to the sliding scale.

For growers in the Extended Pool, the final payment will be received in full. For growers in the Standard Pool, the payment will be used to pay any outstanding portion of your harvest loan including interest and the remainder will be received by you. All growers will also receive the GST component to enable you to forward it to the Australian Tax Office.

While the feed barley pool indicator price range for 2001-02 remains steady at $195-$205 MT, the malting barley pool indicator has been revised downwards to $240-$250 MT Sloop malting, $235-$245 MT Schooner malting.