Boortmalt is to extend its malting capacity in Athy by 30,000t in order to continue providing its Irish brewing and distilling customers with a 100% Irish supply chain, from seed to malting barley.

The company has said that this will build on the relationships between Boortmalt Ireland and Irish growers.

The local project team led by Patrick Kennedy, Maltings manager, and Noel Gaffney, plant performance manager, and the company McElroy Associates has been appointed to carry out this expansion project.

The planning process is currently under way and should be completed by June 2018.

Commercial negotiations are ongoing and the successful principal contractor is due to be appointed before the end of December 2017.

New steeping, germination and kilning vessels, as well as additional malt outloading facilities, will therefore be constructed and operational by June 2019.

Yvan Schaepman, Boortmalt Group CEO, said: “With our Irish grower partners, we have since 2010 further developed the Boortmalt local malting barley supply chain for the exclusive use of our Irish customers.

“The Boortmalt Irish malting barley supply chain is sustainable (Origin Green and SAI silver certified) and can be further expanded now that we decided to add 30,000t of malting capacity in Athy to service the growing brewing and distilling markets in Ireland.”

After its ongoing investments in Ethiopia, this new malting plant extension in Ireland is fully in line with Boortmalt’s strategy to support its customers worldwide by developing local malt production.