Europe: EU maltsters booked 1.6 Mill. tons of export licences by end May

EU maltsters booked 1.6 mil tons of export licences by end May, analysts reported June 5. The number may reach 1.7 to 1.8 mil tons by end June, the end of the crop year. Therefore EU malt exports will drop by 400 to 500,000 tons from last year and even by 700,000 tons from the record year of 2003/04.

At the same time there is no malt available for sale any more for 2007, advanced call-offs by brewers cannot always be fulfilled by the malting industry. Sales have progressed very far for 2008.