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Malting barley growers who are not able to deliver their tonnages of forward-sold grain this year due to rejection will not be penalised, Boortmalt has confirmed.
Fears had been mounting that growers who fail to deliver contractually forward-sold grain within spec could be liable to face financial consequences.
Almost all growers sold 20% of their contracted tonnage at €230/t last year.
Many growers also accepted a follow-up offer to forward sell an additional 20% at €195/t.
This gives an average price of €212.50/t for 40% of their contracts.
The remaining 60% will be determined by the average FOB Creil price, taken on a weekly basis for 24 weeks from the beginning of April until September, mooted to be around €175/t.
Rejections
Low protein levels in malting barley have been causing problems for some growers.
Boortmalt is restricting the intake of grain below 9.3% protein to 30%.
But, for a number of growers, the protein levels for all of their barley came in below 9.3%.
This led to fears that growers would be financially penalised where they had forward-sold 40% of their contract, but just 30% of this contract was accepted for malting.
Increase in protein levels
Boortmalt has since confirmed that average protein levels at intakes had been increasing as the harvest progressed.
It also confirmed that germination issues have been the number one cause for rejections overall this year, as opposed to protein levels.
That said, rejection levels are running close the average, the company stated.
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