Canada: There is a notable decline in capacity expected for the malting barley sector
Canada’s malting capacity is expected to decrease by about 10%, to 2,990 tonnes per day, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada published on June 22 in its Bi-weekly Bulletin. The decrease in malting capacity is attributed to a steadily declining domestic market for beer and reduced prospects for exports of barley malt.
Reduced beer consumption in Canada is reflective of an aging population and changes in consumption patterns. In addition to the lower per capita consumption of beer normally associated with an aging population, Canadians are consuming more imported beers, which reduces domestic demand for barley malt. As well, there has been significant growth in the discounted beer market which typically uses less barley malt in the production process.
For the last 20 years, Canada’s share of the export market for barley malt has trended upward. More recently, that trend seems to have temporarily reversed. For example, exports of barley malt to Japan have been negatively affected by increased consumption of low-malt and no-malt beer beverages.
Canada’s malting industry processes about 1.0 Mt of malting barley annually, of which about 270,000 t is for the domestic beer industry.
More than three-quarters of Canada’s malting capacity is located in western Canada. Canada Malting, with its plants in Montreal, QC, Thunder Bay, ON and Calgary, AB remains the single largest maltster in Canada, processing just over half of the barley malt produced in Canada. The second largest maltster is Prairie Malt in Biggar, SK, followed by Rahr Malting in Alix, AB and the IMC Canada (Dominion Malting) plant in Winnipeg.
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