Mexico: Malteurop inaugurates new Chihuahua malthouse

Vivescia Group, a French cooperative agri-food group with operations in 25 countries around the world, inaugurated on October 19 a new malthouse for its malting business in Meoqui (Chihuahua state – North Mexico), in the presence of all the stakeholders involved in the project, Yahoo Finance reported.

As the first malt industry player to make a significant investment in Mexico, Malteurop is intensifying its efforts to win new business in this country while building a virtuous ecosystem from grain to glass. In addition to the €112 million investment in this malthouse, Malteurop has developed 100% local sourcing over the past three years, through a partnership with some 500 local farmers to produce malting barley.

The President of VIVESCIA Group, Christoph Büren, said: "This new malting plant highlights French industrial and agricultural expertise, while addressing local economic needs and the challenge of sustainability. During the construction of this new malthouse, Malteurop's agronomic and varietal development teams put together a 100%-local barley supply chain. This is an extension of our original business model, which is in place on VIVESCIA's cooperative territory in France".

Olivier Hautin, Managing Director of Malteurop, added: "With an annual production capacity of 120,000 tonnes of malt, which could be extended to 150,000 tonnes in the future, this new facility will enable us to meet the needs of brewers in a particularly buoyant market, which has a shortage of malt, a strategic ingredient in beer production. This project illustrates Malteurop's unique and well-established capacity to develop new industrial projects throughout the world."

Over the past three years, Malteurop has formed partnerships with nearly 500 farmers, encouraging them to diversify into malting barley as an additional crop. Malteurop was able to identify the malting barley varieties that are best suited to the region, while liaising with the VIVESCIA Cooperative's teams, who provided support for the farmers with agro-ecological best practices and low-carbon techniques, once again confirming its commitment to a methodical climate strategy involving the reduction of its carbon footprint and the promotion of regenerative agriculture.

Mexico is a major importer of malt, as well as being one of the world's fastest-growing beer markets (+8% in 2022). With its new malthouse in Meoqui, Malteurop is part of a virtuous local ecosystem, with a more sustainable short supply chain, alongside its farming and brewing partners, in particular Heineken, whose most recent site is adjacent to the malthouse.

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