EU: The sore point of the malt market is the price level, according to a reports posted by branch analysts. Domestic sales below EUR 250, average price for 2005, delivered breweries, leave a great counter-margin, which will certainly endanger the existence of the part of the industry. Prices of malting barley cannot drop far enough to make the malt calculation profitable. New malting capacities coming on stream in both the EU and the CIS and the pressure exerted by the large brewing groups have led to the present depression. It is not the first time at all that the malting industry panics. Some time in the future the EU will have a very concentrated malting industry, as it is the case in all overseas countries, analysts forecast. Then there will be a better balance of market power between grain trade (cooperatives), maltsters and brewers, than is the case now.

10 June, 2004