The IFA and Boortmalt have agreed a price package for the coming season.

The final piece of the jigsaw is an offer of €195/t for 20% of contracted tonnage which will be available to growers tomorrow. This supercedes the existing offer of €188/t which was due to expire at the close of business this evening.

Almost all growers have already sold 20% of their contract for €230/t last year. This gives an average price of €212.50, for the first 40% of contracted tonnage, a good start in what is currently a difficult grain market.

The price of the remaining 60% will be determined by the average FOB Creil price taken on a weekly basis every week from the beginning of April (next week) until September, a 24-week period.

Penalties

Boortmalt previously stated that growers who sell forward will not suffer penalties if their barley fails the stringent quality tests for malt barley at harvest.

A member of the committee said: "If growers sign their contracts and present their barley to their intake point, they will not suffer penalties."

Other elements of the deal are as follows:

  • There will be a €10/t bonus for low-protein distilling barley.
  • The cut-off point to be determined at a later point.
  • High protein barley between 10.8% and 11.8%, will be accepted this year for brewing, but at a €10/t discount.
  • Farmers have two weeks to sign their contracts.
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