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The IFA grain committee has stood down a protest at Belview Port, Waterford. The group disbanded yesterday evening after spending a number of hours at the port.
The IFA had been blocking the unloading of the last of the contents of a shipment. Approximately 1,500t of suspected malting barley was believed to be in it.
Dispute
The shipment of malt was suspected of being of non-Irish origin and destined for Boortmalt in Athy.
However, Boortmalt refuted these claims by the IFA. In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal yesterday, the maltster said: “Boortmalt is currently commissioning new and rebuilt plants in Athy, but as part of the continuous supply agreements with our Irish customers, we exported some Irish barley for malting in Antwerp.
“We are now importing the malt produced from Irish barley for our customers through Waterford.”
The IFA is demanding that Boortmalt prove the shipment is malt derived from Irish grain.
Co-operation
Over the past number of weeks, Boortmalt and the IFA malting barley committee had agreed to work closely together in relation to managing this year’s difficult spring malting barley crop.
As part of the arrangement, the two parties agreed to hold daily conference calls with each other in order to stay up to date with progress and quality as the harvest unfolds.
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