EU: Malt output, barley usage up in Germany, France, the UK
Germany July/June 2011/12 barley malt output is estimated at 1.717 mln tons vs. 1.657 a year earlier; wheat malt production was 110,000 tons. The capacity usage improved to 88% in the second half of the campaign.
U.K. barley usage in July/October was 560,000 tons, up 1% from 2011/12.
French barley use in July/November totalled 674,000 tons, up 0.5% from the previous campaign.
Belgian, French and U.K. malting industries are working at or close to full capacity, industry experts report.