Canadian barley is making inroads into small but potentially lucrative niche markets in Japan.
A cargo of 8,000 tonnes of Legacy, a six-row malting variety, is en route to Japan and will eventually find its way into Japanese rice bowls and drinking glasses.
Of the total, 2,000 tonnes will be processed as a rice extender for human consumption, while 6,000 tonnes will be used to produce barley tea.
The Canadian Wheat Board also shipped a 5,000-tonne cargo of two-row barley to Japan earlier this year for processing into shochu, a distilled alcoholic beverage.
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Joan Anderson of the board’s sales department said Japan’s total requirement for malting barley for food uses is about 100,000 tonnes a year.
That’s dwarfed by other big markets for malting barley, such as China, but it’s still a market worth pursuing.
“It definitely trades at a bit of a premium to regular malt barley markets,” she said.
The rice extender market has traditionally been filled by domestically produced six-row barley, but the Japanese crop was hurt by poor weather in 2005.
“With their declining domestic production, which sounds like it’s going to be a continuing trend, it could certainly grow,” Anderson said.
The shochu market might be tougher to crack. It has been serviced by Australia, which grows two-row varieties exclusively and doesn’t face weathering issues like Canada.
Nevertheless, the board will continue to pursue sales, she said.
“We’ve made a bit of an inroad there and we’re hoping that we can continue with that momentum this year.”
Canada has provided barley for tea production for many years, with sales reaching 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes some years.
The board’s success in the food market is in part an outgrowth of a relationship between it and Zenbakuren, a federation of Japanese barley processors.
Federation members have worked in recent years with the board, the Canadian Grain Commission and the University of Saskatchewan on research into the suitability of various Canadian barley varieties for use as rice extenders and other food products.
In September, Zenbakuren officials toured the wheat board, the U of S Crop Development Centre and farms growing Legacy barley.
