Australia: Largest malthouse in Southern Hemisphere to profit from rising world malt demand

ABB Grain’s new, upgraded Forrestfield malting plant is set to capitalise on the increasing world demand for malt, the company released August 31.

The plant, operated by ABB’s wholly owned subsidiary Joe White Maltings, has undergone a two-year, AU$46 million extension, more than doubling annual malt production capacity to 200,000 tonnes, making it the largest malthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. This highly efficient facility uses state-of-the-art equipment throughout.

Ninety-five per cent of the new facility’s production will be exported to major brewers in Asia. Overseas customers who use malt from Forrestfield include major brewers Heineken/ APB, Beer Thai, Boon Rawd, San Miguel, Saigon and Hanoi Breweries and the well known food company, Nestles, in Singapore.

ABB’s managing director, Michael Iwaniw, said the company’s investment in Forrestfield was a vote of confidence in WA and its barley growers.

“Forrestfield will be requiring nearly a quarter of a million tonnes of malting barley each and every year in order to produce the 200,000 tonnes of malt required by our key customers, both in Perth and Asia,” Mr Iwaniw said.

“This type of investment is only possible with the confidence of knowing WA growers can regularly produce such volumes of high quality malting barley each year."

Joe White Maltings’ chief operating officer, Andrew Gee, said the upgrade was timely.

“World demand for malt has risen rapidly over the last several months and the completion of this expansion means that Joe White Maltings is ideally positioned to service that rising demand from customers throughout Asia,” he said.

“With this plant there is no quiet period, effectively it’s a facility that will operate seven days a week, 365 days of the year.”

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