Brazil: Brazil’s malt producer Malteria Blumenau to cease production

Malteria Blumenau, Brazil’s first micromalting plant, to stop operations as it lacks capacity to compete on the nation’s market, Catalisi.com reported on February 15.

Inaugurated in January 2015, the company has the capacity to produce 100 tonnes of malt monthly.

Malteria Blumenau was launched amid the boom of Brazil’s craft brewing by chemical engineer and trained brewmaster Rodolfo Rebelo.

Its initial production capacity was 12 tonnes of malt per month. The company’s ultimate goal was to replace part of specialty malt imports by local produce.

Malteria Blumenau explained its decision to shut down by high production costs while output volume remains on the small scale, which “makes it difficult to compete with imported malts on Brazil’s market”.

The malthouse still has the capacity to increase production to 170 tonnes of malt per month.

In spite of its closure, the company’s press-release still mentions it believes in national specialty malts production in Brazil, as soon as it’s done on large scale.

Recently, Agraria, Brazil’s largest producer of malt, announced start of the construction of a malting plant focused on production of specialty malts which would be launched in 2026. Planned investments in the project have been confirmed at R$500 mln.

The majority of specialty malt consumed in Brazil is imported, predominantly from Europe.

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