Barley
Australia produces a high quality 2-row spring type barley, with annual
production averaging around 6.6 million tonnes/year (source GRDC). It is a
widely grown crop (second in size only to wheat) and occupies a large
geographic area – almost 4 million hectares – and it is dispersed
from Western Australia to southern Queensland.
Australia has an enviable reputation for producing a reliable supply of
high-quality, contaminant-free barley that is sought after by the malting,
brewing, distilling, shochu and feed industries.
Australia produces 2.5Mmt of malting barley and 4.1Mmt of feed barley and the
average Australian malting selection rate is the highest of the world’s
exporting nations with around 38% of our national crop selected as malt.
Domestically, malting barley demand is around 850,000 tonnes per year and
Australian domestic feed use is around 2 million tonnes each year.
On the domestic front, locally-based brewers are tightly linked into Australia
’s barley production and strong relationships exist between all facets of
the industry – from breeder to brewer and all stages in between.
Australia is comparatively export focussed with approximately 65% of the total
barley crop exported annually. Breaking that down to malt and feed barley,
around 1.65 million tonnes of malt barley, and around 2.1 million tonnes of
feed are also exported each year.
To put that in a global perspective Australia makes up around 32% of the
world’s malting barley trade and approximately 20% of the world’s
feed barley trade. On a production basis (as opposed to actual inter-country
trade), Australia makes up around 5% of the world’s annual barley global
production.
Malt
Malt usually represents a cereal grain that has been allowed to germinate for a
limited period of time prior to undergoing a mild kilning (source Briggs, 1998).
Malt is what is produced from the malting process, where raw barley is steeped,
germinated and kilned to change the raw barley seed into a friable biscuit-like
texture. It is then easily crushed in the brewery mill in preparation for the
sugar conversion that takes place in the brewery mash tun. The malting process
converts around 10% of the carbohydrate in the raw grain into fermentable
sugars via the process of starting and stopping germination of the individual
grain. The malting process prepares the grain for more modification that will
be undertaken in the brewhouse.
A point of difference for the Australian barley industry is that there are two
distinct markets to service – a domestic market and an export market
which have different requirements and needs for their respective malt and raw
barley. This is due to a fundamentally different style and method of brewing
used locally compared with Australia’s major customer base in Asia that
predominantly use solid adjuncts such as rice in the brewing process.
Numerous chemical reactions are occurring between amino acids and reducing
sugars to develop colour and flavour compounds. Malt extract is a natural
flavouring and colouring that is high in protein and natural sugars and is a
major natural energy source. In addition to its use in brewing, it is also
widely used in baking, confectionery, breakfast cereals, malt beverages, dairy
products, condiments and as a caramel substitute.
Australia produces over 700,000 tonnes of malt per year, with around 200,000
tonnes consumed domestically (predominantly in the brewing industry) and over
500,000 tonnes are exported annually.
