Sowing campaign 2025: the area under barley is growing, but the market of brewing raw materials may face a shortage

By April 25, 2025, spring sowing in Russia was carried out on an area of 10.5 million hectares, which is 1.3 million hectares more than a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The sowing campaign is underway in 56 regions of the country. At the moment, farmers have sown 6.3 million hectares of spring grains, of which 2.3 million hectares were for barley.
According to plans for the entire season, the acreage under barley in 2025 will amount to about 7.5 million hectares, slightly higher than the level of 2024 (6.9 million hectares). At that time, the harvest amounted to 16.7 million tons, including about 2 million tons of malting barley.
With the projected yield, the production of malting barley in 2025 may reach 2-2.2 million tons. However, despite the growth of gross area, the market of high-quality brewing raw materials remains under threat of shortage. The main reason is the restraint of farmers who are in no hurry to sow barley for brewing purposes.
Producers are increasingly opting for more marginal crops, such as oilseeds. In addition, the cultivation of malting barley is associated with a high risk: unstable weather can dramatically reduce the quality of grain, depriving it of its premium status. As a result, a farmer who invests in expensive seeds and agricultural machinery runs the risk of getting cheap feed grain instead of expensive goods.
Experts warn that even a small decrease in available volumes or deviations in quality can cause a shortage of raw materials for malt houses and an increase in prices on the domestic market. Thus, with a visible expansion of crops, the malting barley segment remains one of the most vulnerable positions of the new season.