Malting barley growers and whiskey markets have another tough year ahead, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, according to Malting Company of Ireland (MCI) CEO, Paul McGillicuddy.

Speaking at the Irish Tillage and Land Use Society’s summer field day last week, McGillicuddy said: “Irish whiskey sales are growing every year. There is no issue with the sales of Irish whiskey. The issue is with an over inventory build that was done post-Covid. So that has to be corrected and I’d say there’s another year in that correction.”

The CEO of MCI said that Scotland has a bigger problem than Ireland, as it has challenges with sales and inventory.

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“Irish whiskey, I think, is in good shape – we just need to reset the inventory levels and get back to a normalised pattern from 2027/2028 afterwards.”

Looking at markets, he said there was an enormous barley crop globally in 2025 at 154m tonnes of barley produced globally, up 10m tonnes in the year.

Forecast

Ireland produces less than 1% of that. In 2026, the forecast is at about 148m tonnes and this of course impacts, supply, demand and price.

The industrial use for barley is slowing down globally and in brewing. About 2bn litres of beer are brewed every year, he said, and a 1-2% decrease in brewing is a huge figure in relation to barley and malt. A 2% decline in brewing could be a reduction in malt demand of 500,000-800,000t of barley.

McGillicuddy was positive for the future though.

He said the investment by Diageo in Ireland was phenomenal and that the distilling sector should pick up from next year.

Sustainability

He noted that there is also a race to net zero and that farmers needed to measure their sustainability.

“If we don’t measure our sustainability credentials for Irish tillage, we won’t get a return on it. It’s not enough to say we’re doing it and the numbers are low. We need to verify it – and if we can verify it – then we will get premiums from customers and they will then have to walk the walk and provide premiums for those sustainability credentials.”

He added that MCI is working on the new pilot sustainability assurance scheme with Bord Bia and sits on the Technical Advisory Committee with representatives from Dairygold and Tirlán.

Expansion

Speaking later in the day, Ciara Egan of Irish Distillers said the distillery expansion is full steam ahead at Midleton. She said they are ramping up for market growth in countries like India and South Africa.

Egan said the AgNav tool for calculating your carbon footprint could benefit everyone and that it is important that growers fill it out.