Australia: Enough barley for maltsters

Malt barley is in short supply across Australia but maltsters are expected to keep production going until the next crops come in, The Weekly Times (Australia) reported February 14.

ABB Grain Victorian logistics manager Peter Sidley said in a good year, Australian maltsters normally consumed about 880,000 tonnes of malt barley and 2.4 million tonnes of raw malt barley was sent for export.

Australia's total production last harvest was only 800,000 tonnes.

This means Victorian maltsters will not be able to source their normal 260,000 tonnes of supply from last year's harvest, Mr Sidley told a barley information night at Warracknabeal recently.

''This year, there will be limited choice of sourcing barley and they (maltsters) will be using old stocks as long as they can,'' Mr Sidley said.

He said it was not known exactly how much carryover remained from Victoria's 2005 bumper malt barley harvest.

Another unknown is just how grain up to 22 months old will perform in a malthouse.

One solution to the supply shortage will be imports of malt barley from Western Australia, which had a better year than the eastern states.

Mr Sidley said it was not desirable to import malt barley from overseas and was unlikely this season.

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