Boortmalt has announced details of a change to bushel or hectolitre weight (KPH) levels at its malting barley intakes.

The cutoff for bushel levels was 63. Some intakes saw high rejections, with levels much lower than this.

Malting barley rejections this year are particularly hard-hitting, as the grain offers a price premium of €60/t to €70/t.

Merchants assembling barley for Boortmalt told growers on Friday that malting barley would be accepted at levels of 60 to 63. However, this barley will be hit with a price deduction of €25/t.

The Boortmalt average price currently stands at €248.46/t. This deduction would bring the price this week to €223.46/t.

The bushel is a measure of the density of the grain and a higher bushel means more grain can fit in a steep, for example, when malting.

Too severe

Reacting to the announcement, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) grain committee chair Kieran McEvoy said: "With tillage incomes on the floor, it is more important than ever that growers get premium crops like malting barley passed over the weighbridge.

"With this in mind, the IFA malting barley committee requested that Boortmalt management review the 63KPH parameter at the start of the harvest.

"This flat-rate deduction from Boortmalt is far too severe and much more extreme than other grain industry deductions for KPH.

"Growers took a real risk planting malting barley in late April and into early May. Yields on these crops are already compromised. This deduction is a further blow to tillage incomes this year," McEvoy said.