Malting barley supplied to Boortmalt will again be based on the Free-On-Board (FOB) Creil malting barley market this year.

Similar to 2019, the price on the FOB Creil market will be taken at close of business on Wednesday of each week from weeks 15 (8 April) to week 38 (16 September). The price for the remainder of growers' contracts will be the average of the prices during the 21 weeks.

Harvest price

Last year, growers received a harvest price of €174/t for their brewing barley and a €10/t premium for distilling barley. Many growers already had 40% of their contract forward sold.

However, the FOB Creil malting barley markets have been weakening due to the impacts of the coronavirus.

The restrictions imposed due to the virus is reported to be having a serious impact on demand in the drinks sector and this has been reflected in a weakening of the FOB Creil malting barley price to €167/t last week.

Premium and offers

For this marketing season, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that the €10/t premium for distilling barley will remain in place. However, it remains unclear if the disruption to the market will affect the desired 70:30 brewing-to-distilling ratio which growers must adhere to.

In December, growers were offered a fixed price offer of €180/t for 20% of their contract. Another fixed price offer of €175/t for a further 20% of their contract was also offered earlier in February.