Boortmalt announced an increase on its malting barley price today.
Following recent negotiations between the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and Boortmalt, the malting company has agreed to top up the final malting barley price paid to growers for the 2018 harvest by €30/t.
There will also be a further additional payment of €10/t for distilling grade barley.
IFA Malting Barley Committee chairman Mark Browne has acknowledged the move.
Browne said that, due to the unprecedented weather conditions and lack of confidence in the sector among growers, Boortmalt was asked to consider these mitigating factors when settling the final pricing arrangements for the 2018 crop.
Finally, Browne confirmed that the committee is in the middle of negotiations for the 2019 crop which would be concluded as soon as possible to allow growers to finalise their winter and spring crop schedules.
The increase comes as many malting barley growers looked at being paid more for feed barley than their premium product.
This follows on from a deal which was agreed upon at the beginning of July, in which the company agreed to change its pricing structure.
July deal
Under the new structure it was agreed that farmers would be paid €10/t on top of the December 2018 MATIF price – up to €180/t, meaning that when the MATIF price is at €180/t a farmer will be paid €190/t for their malting barley. When the MATIF price is at €190/t, or over, farmers were to be paid the MATIF price.
This is a change from the previous deal – which was to remain in place for two years – where a reduction from the MATIF price was carried out.