August 9, 2010 Shoppers could see the cost of the meat and
poultry in their baskets rise as the price of barley has more
than doubled over the past six weeks due to continued fears over
the drought affecting Russia and Ukraine. Russia is the world’s
second largest producer of barley after the EU and the cereal
crop is used by many farmers as animal feed. The recent price
rise could also have a possible knock-on effect on the cost of
beer as a significant proportion of the remainder of barley
production goes into the brewing trade on both sides of the
Atlantic. Barley is the latest commodity to see a dramatic price
rise in recent weeks. The worst drought for generations in
Russia has already caused a 50% jump in the price of wheat, the
world’s most-consumed cereal, since June, and last week
president Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would freeze
grain exports. Attention is also being focused on Australia, the
world’s fourth largest exporter of wheat, where this year’s crop
may be hit by dry weather in West