World: Malt stock reduction in many breweries must have been substantial

The smaller EU malt exports could not have been fully compensated by sales of other origin malt, therefore stock reduction in many breweries must have been substantial, market analysts commented recently. One must not only take into account the lower export numbers of the EU, but also the extraordinary increase of beer sales in 2006, round about five percent or 80 million hl.

China alone produced 45 million hl more than in 2005, the rest of the world 35 million hl. Malt requirements except China have risen by at least 400,000 tons in 2006, and may rise by a similar amount in 2007.

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