Monday, November 1, 2010

Ethanol Crisis: "Australian rains hold key to malting barley prices"

Uh oh.
If you thought the Bondi Beach riots* were bad what would happen with higher prices for Tooheys?
From Agrimoney:
Australian weather will determine the future of malting barley prices, with forecast rains holding the potential to dash expectations of a price falls, the Canadian Wheat Board has said.
Australia's overall barley production looks on course to top 8m tonnes, a level high by historical standards, and more than the 7.6m tonnes the US Department of Agriculture is forecasting, the board said.
"It has the potential to put significant pressure on world malting barley prices," the CWB said.
However, recent rains, a continuation of the moisture which has encouraged "bumper" yields, are already raising fears of crop downgrades and "causing concern about the eventual amount of malting barley available"....MORE
*Not the Christmas 1995 riots or the 2000 version or the Cronulla riots of 2005. Here's a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 27, 1884:
 "A disgraceful fracas occurred at Bondi yesterday. The pretty
little village was crowded with visitors, and amongst them were some members of the
larrikin type." Having quenched their thirst in the Cliff House Hotel (now the site of the
Astra), a group of drunken rowdies descended upon the Bondi Dance Hall, located
opposite the hotel. A row, begun over a young woman, came to blows and their mates
joined in the fray. The hall had been decorated with gum saplings and these were
pulled down and used as "waddies". The fight developed into a real "ding-dong go" -
the women partisans joining in, tearing at each others hair and clothing....