Germany: Spring malting barley harvest below expectations both in quality and quantity

The volume of Germany's 2019 spring barley harvest which reaches standards to make malt will fall to about 1.16 million tonnes from 1.26 million tonnes last year as crops suffered from the summer heatwave, Reuters reported, citing industry association Braugersten-Gemeinschaft on September 24.

"Both the quality and quantity of the German 2019 spring barley harvest turned out to be below expectations," the association said in a crop report.

The area planted with spring barley, a key ingredient in malt and beer production, was cut by about 90,000 hectares to about 360,000 hectares, it said.

Much of west Europe sweltered under an early summer heatwave, with record high temperatures recorded in Germany.

High temperatures in June meant some barley suffered from lack of soil moisture, the association said. The high temperatures also meant some spring barley developed too quickly and did not reach malting standards, it said.

Only 61% of Germany's total spring barley crop is expected to reach malting standards against the long-term average of about 70%, it said.

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