Much needed rain fell over most of NSW at the end of last week, and then continued right through the weekend as the system moved slowly through inland areas.

Sapporo has a long term supply agreement with Cargill Malt and Sapporo’s lead barley breeder Dr Dr Ryouichi Kanatani is currently in South Australia visiting barley growers, storage facilities and malt processing plants.

Well what a week in sport! You have the Raiders who have been promising for some time finally get through to a Grand Final for the first time in 25 years, the GWS Giants in the AFL, who obviously played their Grand final a week too early and the Wallabies - well they are a bit like the Australian grain market at the moment - all over the shop.

With no substantial rain events behind us and the forecast leaving us forever guessing, crops have ‘hit the wall’ as soil moisture reserves have all but depleted coinciding with above average daytime temperatures, wind and multiple frost events.

With the current state of play in our weather conditions over the past three years, barley has been the mainstay of many in production and financial reward and it has been the liquid gold that many have wanted. Because of this, the barley area has again exceeded all expectation on the East Coast as well as Western Australia.

It is still wet in the United States and most areas above Forbes in Central New South Wales are really feeling the pinch due to lack of any decent rainfall. We can only hope that there is a turn around soon in the season for everyone’s sake.

In our part of the world, follow up rain is badly needed but on the other side of the globe, too much rain is rattling markets.