EU: EU malt export licence bookings were of 485,000 tonnes by the end of September

EU malt export licence bookings from July 1 to September 27, 2005, were 485,000 tonnes versus 626,500 tonnes at the same time last year. If license fixations continued at the same pace until June 30 of next year, they would total 1.940 million tonnes versus 2.220 million tonnes last year and 2.478 million tonnes two years ago. The loss in two years' time would amount to 538,000 tonnes or 22 %.

Analysts think that the reasons are well known, expansion of malting industries in Eastern Europe and South America makes these countries less dependent on malt imports. Liberal bilateral trade policies of Australia favour malt exports from that country.

EU maltsters cannot be blamed, unless one wants to criticize international malting companies for investing also outside the EU. (We do not.) Or one could blame the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, which is still much too protectionist for today's world.