EU: Malting capacities of several hundred thousand tons shut down across Europe

A year ago the EU malt industry was confronted with an overcapacity of more than 1 million t of malt. Sooner than expected U.K., German and French maltsters shut down several hundred thousand tons of capacities permanently, further closures in Ireland, Spain, Romania and Slovakia went almost unnoticed, analysts released September 01.

During winter of 2005/06 German and U.K. maltsters produced less malt than their capacities. The insolvency of Alba Domu and Weissheimer reduced production in Hungary and Germany by 100,000 tons each. All this and this past summer's beer boom created a tight malt market for the first time in years. It allowed maltsters to sell malt on basis of correct calculations.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .