EU: The latest malt production figures in EU

Germany: July – November 692,000 tonnes. If the monthly production figures remain unchanged, final figure for the crop year will be 1.66 million tonnes versus 1.85 million tonnes in 2005/06. Production in the former Weissheimer plants may pick up, but stoppages are expected in South Germany. On paper the German capacity is 2.1 million tonnes. It seems, however, that the reported figure was exaggerated. Capacities should nevertheless still be between 1.9 and 2.0 million tonnes, which means that at best 85 % of the malting capacities will be used during this campaign.

France: Barley usage July – December 751,000 tonnes versus 853,000 tonnes a year ago. The ONIGC forespells a total usage of 1.57 million tonnes, as compared to 1.66 million tonnes in 2005/06. As per early statistical figures usage may only be 1.50 million tonnes. Two large and one small factory were shut down in 2006.

U.K.: Barley usage July - December 834,000 tonnes, only 1 % less than a year ago. Total barley use during the crop year is forecast to reach almost 1.7 million tonnes. The reduction of malt production was achieved by factory closures totalling 150,000 tonnes of malt, during the past years.

The Czech Republic maintained its high malt production figure of 515,000 tonnes in 2006. Most smaller EU countries will work at capacity or close to it, which will give a total malt production of 7.9 – 8.0 million tonnes for the EU-25. Of the new members Romania produced 122,000 tonnes of malt in 2005 and imported 123,000 tonnes, most of it from the EU-25.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .