Malting price offer made by Boortmalt

Boortmalt has made a price offer to farmers. The company had told growers at a meeting on Monday night that they expected to announce a price offer later in the week.

At that meeting they stated the offer was likely to be north of €230/t, which was the offer released in February. That offer received little uptake according to reports.

The offer released on Friday, 14 March is €240/t. It is the second of the season and the Irish Farmers Journal understands that farmers can fix the price of up to 40% of their tonnage at this price. Offers are usually only available on 20% of tonnage so this is a positive move by Boortmalt.

Farmers should be notified of the price offer by their local merchant who they supply and can contact their local merchant if they are interested in taking up the offer.

The €10/t charge placed on the harvest price does not apply to this price offer. That €10/t charge was described as a parity charge to bring the Irish price more in line with European prices at Monday's meeting. It had previously been called a drying, logistics and energy charge.

Malting barley prices

Malting barley prices are much lower this season than last as the sector comes under pressure from various global pressures. Concerns over demand for some drinks, tariffs and trade wars are all playing into this.

On 6 March, Irish Distillers confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that is was pausing production at its Middleton distillery for a number of months.

After the IFA's National Malting Barley meeting on Monday, 10 March the IFA's Kieran McEvoy said: "On the night, malting barley growers outlined frustration at the €230/t forward offer which was described by several as unviable in 2025 when land rental and machinery costs are factored in."

There was also a call for the malting barley price to be linked to the end user.