China & France: France supplies annually up to 600,000 t of malting barley to China
According to Li Zhaoyu, the official of France Export Céréales for China, the Hexagon is exporting annually between 200,000 t and 600,000 t of malting barley to China since 1997. The shipments strongly depend on the availability of their Australian and Canadian competitors to export to China.
China is proving a big appetite for beer. The country needs annually 13 million tonnes of malting barley, of which 80% are imported.