Barley, Cebada, Hordeum vulgare

Known to humans since at least 8500 BC, barley remains to be one of the most important crops. Being a staple  in Sumeria, Egypt as far back as 3000 BC at least  barley spread fast  and was grown as far as Korea by 1500 BC. Now, 105 countries are growing barley commercially.

World production in 2009  was over 150 271 573 tons, leaving  a potential consumer with 22.06 kg of barley to play with. You can make almost 189 liters (48-48.5 gallons) of beer with it, or if you decide to eat it it will last you well over 38 days at 2000 calories a day.
Biggest barley producer is Russia with 17 880 760 tonnes as of 2009.
Biggest producer per capita is  Australia with over 370 kg of barley as of  2009. Lithuania had 264.1 kg of barley  per capita  as of 2009.  4.24% of Lithuanian territory was used for barley production in 2009.
Ukraine doesn't fall far behind with 258.3 kg per capita produced, Ukraine is also the biggest barley exporter in the world with about 6 000 000 tons exported (total barley exports worldwide are about 18.5 million tons). 8.27 % of Ukrainian territory , or 16.02% of all of their arable land, were used for barley production in 2009. Do you like beer, BBQ ribs , bacon? Thank Ukrainians for all that barley.  One can only imagine the cost of animal feed and malt if  only 12 million tonnes of barley were available for international trade.

Total world  barley exports as of 2010:

1) Ukraine  5.752 000 tonnes  32.9% 
2)Australia  3.867 000 tonnes 22.1%
3)EU          2.500 000 tonnes 14.3%
4) Russia    2.086 000 tonnes 11.9%
5) Canada  1.203 000 tonnes 6.9%
6)Turkey       800 000 tonnes  4.6%
7)Argentina   549 000 tonnes  3.1%
8)Kazakhstan354 000 tonnes  2%
9) USA         151 000 tonnes 0.9%
10)India        150 000 tonnes 0.9%
11) Others      80 000 tonnes 0.5%


World total barley exports, 2010 : 17 492 000 tonnes ( source: USDA )

Japan is usually the biggest barley buyer worldwide.

Crop of barley  of 2009 was big enough to feed  725 million people at 2000 calories a day, or to fill  about 513 000 Olympic-sized swimming pools with beer.Or perhaps you'd prefer a little sea of beer, 10 by 10 miles and almost 17 feet deep. Every male in the world  regardless of age would have to drink over two pints a day to drink it all within a year..

54 129 438 hectares were used for barley production in 2009, a territory bigger than Yemen and Eastern Timore combined. That's almost 3.44%  of all arable land in the world.
Best crop since 1961 was  177.7 million tons in 1990, worst-- 72.4m.tonnes of barley  in 1961.

Land usage: decrease by about 1% since 1961. Record was set in 1979, 83 694 892 hectares

9 292 099 tonnes of barley were used for seeds in 2009.

Best  barley yields ever (since 1961) were reached in 2009 , average yield worldwide was 2776 kg per hectare, worst-1328kg in 1961. Individually the record was set in Belgium (2009)  at 8397 kg per hectare.

Barley costs around $190-200 per ton, and world crop is about  $28 billion worth


List of all articles at Ironrye:
 http://ironrye.blogspot.com/2011/10/list-of-all-articles-at-iron-rye.html


My main sources are fao.org, usda.gov, cia.gov, alibaba.com among many others

Production  of barley by country:

	item	2007		2008		2009
Afghanistan	Barley	370000		333000		486000
Albania	Barley	3500		3600		4500
Algeria	Barley	1186658		395922		2203359
Argentina	Barley	1481690		1690085		1362669
Armenia	Barley	162533		149091		145141
Australia	Barley	7160168		7996506		8098000
Austria	Barley	810980		967921		835107
Azerbaijan	Barley	474646		605525		643680
Bangladesh	Barley	755		536			M
Belarus	Barley	1911270		2211890		2123424
Belgium	Barley	374454		328768		452600
Bhutan	Barley	4835		5000		5000	F
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Barley	72589		73228		74074
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Barley	60748		77821		77222
Brazil	Barley	235577		236912		201451
Bulgaria	Barley	419762		878001		858679
Canada	Barley	10983900		11781400		9517200
Chile	Barley	56227		66895		53325
China	Barley	3451000	*	3100000		3400000
Colombia	Barley	7730		11042		17567
Croatia	Barley	225265		279106		243609
Cyprus	Barley	52007		46806		30000
Czech Republic	Barley	1893408		2243865		2003032
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	Barley	75000	*	65000	*		M
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Barley	500		500	F		M
Denmark	Barley	3104200		3396000		3421000
Ecuador	Barley	24762		17954		21423
Egypt	Barley	178344		149238		146269
Eritrea	Barley	39489		39489			M
Estonia	Barley	362769		349100		376945
Ethiopia	Barley	1270680		1352148		1519404	*
Finland	Barley	1984400		2128600		2171000
France	Barley	9473570		12171300		12879600
Georgia	Barley	40300		49300		20000
Germany	Barley	10384218		11967114		12288100
Greece	Barley	274373		380000		280000
Guatemala	Barley	1000	F	1000	F		M
Hungary	Barley	1017827		1467055		1063881
India	Barley	1330000		1196100		1690000
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Barley	3103980		1547394		3446227
Iraq	Barley	748000		403999		501508
Ireland	Barley	1124500		1249700		1167000
Israel	Barley	8550		5500		5135
Italy	Barley	1225282		1236697		1049200
Japan	Barley	194600		217200		179200
Jordan	Barley	13260		10328		17062
Kazakhstan	Barley	2441190		2058550		2519000
Kenya	Barley	45000		44597		42147
Kuwait	Barley	1990		1990		2000	F
Kyrgyzstan	Barley	227236		210600		289670
Latvia	Barley	350500		307100		265500
Lebanon	Barley	33100		29000		34000	F
Lesotho	Barley	450	F	410	F	720	F
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Barley	100000		100000			M
Lithuania	Barley	1013700		970400		858200
Luxembourg	Barley	44640		52816		54398
Malta	Barley	1600	F	1600	F	1600	F
Mauritania	Barley	1090		1090			M
Mexico	Barley	653074		811358		746000	*
Mongolia	Barley	3908		1394		1844
Montenegro	Barley	1058		1200	F		M
Morocco	Barley	762550		1353240			M
Myanmar	Barley				M		M
Nepal	Barley	28293		28082		23224
Netherlands	Barley	260000		310200		309600
New Zealand	Barley	355627		408730		435270
Norway	Barley	485300		558200		435000
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Barley	14957		9740			M
Oman	Barley	3417		3500		3600	F
Pakistan	Barley	93000		87400		82000
Peru	Barley	177479		185981		213208
Poland	Barley	4008096		3619460		3983900
Portugal	Barley	73900		99800		75900
Qatar	Barley	5000		5000	F		M
Republic of Korea	Barley	168891		170053			M
Republic of Moldova	Barley	115237		353124		245000	*
Romania	Barley	531420		1209410		1182062
Russian Federation	Barley	15559075		23148450		17880760
Rwanda	Barley		M		M		M
Saudi Arabia	Barley	28000		24000			M
Serbia	Barley	258998		344141		302527
Slovakia	Barley	659621		891317		675475
Slovenia	Barley	67904		76788		70793
South Africa	Barley	222500		192000		216000
Spain	Barley	11945319		11261100		7399700
Sudan	Barley		M		M		M
Sweden	Barley	1439000		1671600		1676600
Switzerland	Barley	210500		200341		198061
Syrian Arab Republic	Barley	784479		261100		845669
Tajikistan	Barley	71039		57601		70000	F
Thailand	Barley	18000	F	18000	F		M
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Barley	106635		162779		146372
Tunisia	Barley	535100		254000
Turkey	Barley	7306800		5923000		7300000
Turkmenistan	Barley	58700	*	58700	F		M
Ukraine	Barley	5980800		12611500		11833100
United Kingdom	Barley	5079000		6144000		6969000
United Republic of Tanzania	Barley	4500	F	4500	F		M
United States of America	Barley	4574520		5229590		4949370
Uruguay	Barley	310200		405500		464071
Uzbekistan	Barley	90000	*	157000	*	210000	*
Western Sahara	Barley	2000	F	2000	F		M
Yemen	Barley	34680		26704		23241
Zambia	Barley	2350	F	2350	F		M
Zimbabwe	Barley	48000		48000	F		M
World + (Total)	Barley	134778729	A	155053722	A	150271573	A

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