UK: Greencore Malt plant expansion

Scottish spring barley growers have received a further boost with news of another new plant to provide malt to the burgeoning Scotch whisky industry, FWi reported June 18.

Irish-owned Greencore Malt is increasing capacity at its Buckie plant in North-east Scotland from 40,000t to 60,000t in time for the 2008 harvest.

This follows news two weeks ago of a £12m investment by Simpsons Malt to increase production at its Berwick-on-Tweed maltings by 40,000t.

Scotland has lost 120,000t of malting capacity in recent years as a result of plant closures and distillers are concerned about future supplies of malt.

With the world-wide increase in demand for Scotch whisky, distillers are offering higher prices and long-term contracts to secure future supplies.

A £30-£40/tonne increase in forward contract prices for malting barley to £110-£120/tonne for this year’s harvest has halted the decline in the Scottish spring barley acreage which this year is estimated at 210,000ha.

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 .