"The barley market is really moving. It has risen 500 pesetas a tonne in a week," a Barcelona trader said.

A Madrid trader added, "Although the amount available for export is not huge compared with Spain's production, it is enough to make the market react."

Last Thursday the European Union added 250,000 tonnes to the amount available under a tender for the export of Spanish barley from the free market.

Traders forecast domestic consumption of some five million tonnes of barley this year. The agriculture ministry has forecast domestic production of 10.9 million tonnes in 1998, up from 8.6 million in 1997.

Traders quoted domestic barley ex-farmer at 19.5-20.5 pesetas per kilo last week, against 19.5 pesetas per kilo the previous week.

Maize harvesting in Spain gathered pace last week in a burst of good weather, but rains inSeptember had delayed crop collection by one to two weeks, traders said.

Traders estimated some 40 per cent of the crop in Extremadura in western Spain had yet to be harvested.

A Reuters reporter saw large volumes of maize that had still not been cut during a tour of the Badajoz-Merida area of Extremadura last week. A Barcelona trader said there had been little harvesting around the Caceres area of Extremadura.

Small quantities of maize had been harvested in the Albacete region in the southeast and traders estimated that the harvest there would continue until the end of November. They said some 15 per cent of the maize crop in the Aragon region in the east had been harvested.

One Madrid trader said that if good weather continued, harvesting in Aragon could get into full swing late this week.

Maize harvesting in Andalusia in the south has finished. In Portugal, traders estimated that rains had delayed the end of the maize harvest to mid-January from December.

Spanish traders noted some upwardpressure on maize prices due to the delays in the local harvest in recent weeks. But they said Spanish maize was now cheaper than maize imported by truck from France as Italy was seeking crop from southern France and the Spanish harvest was well under way.

"Despite the small rises in domestic maize prices over the past few weeks due to delays in the harvest, the price of domestic maize is now very low," a Madrid trader said.

Spanish traders quoted French maize truck Lerida at 22.75-23.0 pesetas per kilo last week, against 22.25-22.75 the previous week. They quoted maize Seville-Cordoba at 22.0-22.5 pesetas last week, against 22.0 the previous week.

Portuguese traders quoted imported maize CIF Lisbon for October delivery at 26.8 escudos per kilo last week, compared with 26.9-27.6 the previous week. They quoted domestic maize from the main growing area of the Ribatejo in central Portugal unchanged at 26.5-27.0 escudos per kilo.

Traders said the 500 tonnes of preferential maize awarded by the EuropeanUnion last Thursday in a final auction for import to Spain came from Argentina.

They said the Plate maize was on a loaded vessel already afloat and so was capable of reaching Spain for an October 30 deadline.

Traders said they did not expect the EU to open another tender for reduced-levy maize for Spain until the end of this year or early next year, because of the competing local harvest.