A hard rain falls on UK barley producers
By: JimOldfield
August 7th, 2012
Raindrops keep falling on the heads of the UK’s malting barley producers – and not just in the washed-out fields.
HM Revenue and Customs figures showed a year-on-year annual plunge of 16 per cent in total UK malt exports for the period July 2011 to May 2012, while imports were 28.6 per cent higher.
Japan was our largest global export customer, accounting for 53 per cent of the trade, with Thailand and the US joint second (8.4 per cent) and Taiwan third with 6.1 per cent.
At home, however, the news was slightly better – as UK brewers, distillers and maltsters used 5.4 per cent more malting barley, according to DEFRA.
Meanwhile, the very real torrential rain that destroyed the early summer, delayed crop development from the UK to Sweden, slowing the maturation of plants by about 10 days and threatening to erode the quality of brewing grains.
The next month’s weather will be crucial to barley crop development, industry leaders have warned.
One said: “The brewer may have to work harder to source his ingredients this year.”
