UK: Whisky firms pay more for barley

The whisky industry is paying its highest prices for barley in 10 years, according to the National Farmers' Union Scotland, BBC News reported September 13.

Cereals chairman John Picken said farmers were getting a price for malting barley closer to what they had long been calling for.

Growers favouring food crops such as wheat and poor weather had reduced the acreage for barley to a 30-year low.

Mr Picken added that a spell of good weather had helped the harvest. He said: "For arable farmers it is a catch-up situation. "The prices on offer show you what malters can pay when pushed."

Mr Picken said that for 10 years supply and demand had been in the whisky industry's favour, but this year had swung in the growers'.

He added: "From a bottle of whisky retailing at £15, only about 7.5p was relating to the barley grower. Now it is near 15-20p." Mr Picken said this was an improvement, but still low.

The cereals chairman said malting barley could be sourced from elsewhere, however, the whisky industry needed Scottish grain in line with its quality assurance.

14 September, 2007