Boortmalt released a harvest price to merchants on Friday 19 September.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands the green price released is €208.95/t.

Since 2019, the price has been based on averaging over the season of the Free-On-Board (FOB) Creil price and, since 2022, a €10/t charge has been taken off this average.

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This year, merchants were told that the average was €218.95/t, minus the €10/t charge. This brings the price for brewing barley to €208.95/t.

Distilling barley carries a €10/t bonus, so those who managed to get distilling barley through will be paid a base price of €218.95/t.

Earlier this year, the Irish Farmers Journal reported that price averaging usually starts in mid-April and this year started on 24 April. It is not known why the averaging system started later this season.

In early September, we reported that the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) placed the average price at about €225/t, minus the €10/t charge, bringing the base price to €215/t.

In 2024, Boortmalt’s price averaging came to €247.69/t, after the €10/t charge was taken off. The distilling price came to €257.69/t. So this year’s price is significantly behind on 2024.

How does this compare to feed barley?

So far, Centenary Thurles is the only co-op or merchant to have officially announced a harvest price.

The co-op’s base price for feed barley is €190/t and €198/t with input bonuses.

The feed wheat price is €208/t with input bonuses, so there is only €10/t in the difference with feed barley and the price is almost on a par with feed wheat.

In February, Liffey Mills offered a spring feed barley price of €210/t, which is also above the price announced this week.

Demand

Demand for distilling barley remains low and looks unlikely to increase anytime soon.

There is demand for brewing barley and Diageo’s new brewery in Kildare will hopefully add to this demand. Prospects for next season remain bleak for malting barley.

So far, farmer reaction to the price announcement has been one of extreme disappointment.

Malting barley had been a premium crop which boosted incomes, but, next season, with a price of only €10/t above feed and cuts to contracts, farmers have to consider cropping options.

Varieties

The low price is further compounded by the fact that suppliers have been growing older varieties, which find it extremely difficult to reach the potential yields possible in spring barley and require more inputs.

Surveying merchants across the country this harvest, the Irish Farmers Journal found that there was a clear difference in average yields where newer varieties were being grown and where older varieties were being grown for malting.

The lack of movement in varieties is something that is seriously impacting the sustainability of suppliers’ farms.