GLOBAL demand for beer containing more malt is lifting the call for high-specification malting barley as sales rebuild after COVID. Known as premiumisation of beer, it was an aspect of the market discussed by Boortmalt regional merchandising manager Simon Robertson in his address to the Grains Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) 2021 Barley Forum on Monday.
Boortmalt is owned by the French cooperative Axéréal , and has a malting capacity of about 3 million tonnes (Mt) globally, with 500,000t of that in Australia. Mr Robertson said there had been a drop during 2020 of around 8-10 per cent in the volume of global beer sales, with COVID’s impact on consumption at pubs and clubs the major factor.
“We’ve definitely been hit. “Projected recovery is going to be a bit slower than we thought, so we’re going to reach 2019 volumes in 2025.”
But while beer has lost market share, he said it was not losing value. “We’re seeing a trend of premiumisation.”Mr Robertson said this involved brewers using more malt in their recipes to make beer, or different types of malt with a higher specifications.“This premiumisation trend is going to continue in Southeast Asian markets, and we have to think about what that means.”
Varieties matter
Mr Robertson talked about the high modification varieties (Figure 1) needed to contribute to the processed malt blend to satisfy the premiumisation trend of brewers’ tighter malt specifications. “Typically we’ve relied really heavily on Bass and Flinders to meet these specifications.These days we’re leaning pretty heavily on Planet to help us out. Spartacus now is, by volume, one of the main varieties being grown, but it needs to be supported by some of the other varieties to meet those specifications. “We don’t see any obvious replacement for Bass and Flinders in particular.” The quandary for barley growers, exporters and maltsters appears to be how to encourage growers to plant varieties with higher specifications but lower yields than the higher modification varieties. Both Planet and Spartacus are high yielders. They are among the varieties performing well for growers across southern Australia who find themselves selling their malting barley into the global stockfeed market in China’s absence.
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