EU: Malt exports slip lower in December

After showing some signs of improvement in November, EU-27 malt exports have slipped lower in December, RMI Analytics said in their early January report.

Currently, crop’24 shipments are running 1% ahead of crop’23 levels at this same time. However, with the slippage in December, the current crop’24 pace is running 5% below the Crop’22 level which was a very strong year for global malt demand when the COVID recovery was underway.

In time, the stronger USD/weaker Euro should benefit European malt origins, but so far the benefit is not being realized, the analysts said.