EU: Disappointing barley crop makes some brewers and maltsters agree on exceptional protein tolerance

The barley crop of 2018 was small and of poor quality in parts of Germany, all of Poland, the Baltic countries, all of Scandinavia, and desperately bad in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, H. M. Gauger GmbH said in their latest report published in December.

Meantime many, but not all brewers and maltsters have agreed on exceptional tolerances on quality, viz. protein. That has alleviated the supply situation to a large extent.

A new problem has arisen from the continuous lack of precipitation, which has emptied the river beds of Rhine, Main, Mosel, Elbe, Danube and paralyzed water transport of barley.

Maltsters in South Germany and Central Europe must use their local barley supplies until their stocks are empty. Their old crop carry-over had already been at a minimum. It is foreboding added trouble by next spring, the analysts said.