Boortmalt to honour 2019 contracts despite drop in capacity

The loss of malting capacity after the partial collapse of a building at Boortmalt’s premises in Athy last month will not give rise to cuts in malting contracts.

Discussions between the company and IFA have reached a resolution whereby there will be no cuts to 2019 contracts, though there will be some knock-on consequences, according to the IFA’s Mark Browne.

Browne also said that, given the reduced malting capacity, there will not be derogations on seasonal issues such as protein thresholds and Boortmalt will not be taking in barley that is surplus to contract.

Separate to the capacity issue, Boortmalt normally requires about 70% of its malt for brewing and 30% for distilling markets.

In recent years this requirement was imposed on individual contract holders in roughly these proportions for each market.

Because some growers or fields are better suited to produce for either category, the company recently decided to manage this requirement internally, Browne told the Irish Farmers Journal.

However, the company still needs to secure its raw material in these proportions and a run of very low proteins (which suit distilling) early this harvest gave rise to fears of excess distilling and insufficient brewing barley.

Low protein

Some growers who have already delivered 30% of their contracted tonnage as low protein distilling barley have been told to cease delivery. The remaining 70% of their contract now depends on getting other fields or varieties with protein levels above 9.3%.

Early indications suggest that some of the barley cutting this week is above the 9.3% threshold and that is good news for all growers.

Germination is now a real concern for malting barley in feed bins.