July 15, 2011

Lithuania's grain harvest season begins, wheat gets delayed

Lithuania's first barley cargoes from this year's harvest have been delivered to grain processing facilities, but wheat harvesting is expected to get underway in another couple of weeks, according to Thursday (Jul 14) reports.

It is believed that barley prices in Lithuania will be close to those in global markets. Barley prices in the European market currently hover at around EUR180 (US$255.31) per tonne, and feed wheat on the MATIF exchange costs about EUR190 (US$269.5) per tonne.

"I think that we will harvest around 1.6 million tonnes. We will use half of that in the local market and will export the other half," stated Romas Majauskas, the president of the Lithuanian Grain Growers' Association.

Lithuania's wheat harvest hit a record level in 2007-2008, at over two million tonnes. Global grain prices went down this year after Russia lifted its export ban and due to good yield expectations.