Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) grain committee chair Mark Browne has advised farmers not to supply Boortmalt with surplus malting barley at the current price on offer.

The company is currently offering €205/t for surplus malting barley and the Irish Farmers Journal understands there will be no premium paid for distilling (usually €10/t) on surplus barley.

"We are advising growers not to supply surplus barley at the current surplus barley price of €205/t, as this is now seen as a feed barley price," Browne stated.

The current malting barley harvest price at Boortmalt stands at €227.84/t. This price is based on the average of the Free-On-Board (FOB) Creil price (every Wednesday at close of business) from April to September.

Price increases

FOB Creil prices increased significantly in recent weeks and there are still four weeks to be included in that average price. On 19 August, the price finished at €262/t.

Prices of well over €200/t, hitting €210/t, are now available for feed barley and Browne advised farmers not to supply surplus barley to the company, which is the largest maltster in the world, unless the price for surplus barley increases substantially.

So far this harvest, quality was reported to be high at malting intakes and farmers have been generally happy with yields.