World: Experts about the evolution of world demand for malt

Experts speaking at the first ever U.S. Malt and Malting Barley Buyers Conference held Oct. 30 - Nov. 2 in Portland, OR, shared their views on world malting and malt trade in Marketing Year 2005-06 and forecasted malt demand in Year 2010, Idaho Barley commission said this week.

Most of the demand growth for malting barley and malt during the next five years will be in countries with rapidly expanding beer production, including the Far East, particularly China (18% growth), Russia and Eastern Europe (17% growth), South America (17%) growth) and Africa (21% growth).

According the experts’ views the U.S. malt industry currently has excess processing capacity and is well positioned to meet the needs of the expanding Asian and Latin American markets.