World: Five malting groups dominate global commercial malting capacity

Global commercial malting capacity consists of five malting groups, each controlling 1 mln tonnes or more of malt output, plus a long tail of independent commercial maltsters, RMI Analytics said in their latest report.

From a market share perspective, the commercial industry is led by Boortmalt, at just over 3 mln tonnes, followed by Soufflet (2.33 mln), Malteurop (2.29 mln), United Malt Group (1.4 mln), and Supertime (1.18 mln tonnes). All of these malting groups have a global footprint, except Supertime, which is solely China-based.

The regional malting capacity breakdown is led by Western Europe, at 7.48 mln tonnes. Taking into account Central and Eastern Europe places the wider European total at nearly 11 mln tonnes (including Russia and Ukraine). In total, European capacity stands at nearly 11 mln tonnes – 52% of all commercial capacity and 41% of all malting capacity, including vertical brewer/distiller holdings.

Asia Pacific is next at 24%, dominated by China, followed by North America, Latin America, Australia, and Africa.