Integrating the malt value chain
A complete approach to malting barley procurement must take into account these six key areas — which implies good knowledge and prior in-depth analysis of local contexts — and deploy pragmatic, multi-faceted solutions keyed to situations and customer needs in each region.
In the final analysis, for Malteurop there is no single procurement chain, but rather different models of origination and supply of malting barley — models which are modular and scalable to accompany markets and brewers.
At Malteurop these models encourage, wherever possible, the use of local resources and direct relations with growers, in a perspective of sustainability.
In regions that are insufficient producers of suitable barley, Malteurop organizes and secures the necessary procurement flows, adapting to local contexts and the specific needs of brewers.
Barley, throughout history the most widespread cereal grain, seems to have first been grown in Turkestan, Ethiopia, Tibet, Nepal, and China. Archeological excavations 100 km from Cairo, in Egypt, have shown that barley was grown as early as 5,000 years ago.
Barley is especially well suited to malting operations and meets brewers’ needs and expectations. During the different stages of fabrication of malt and beer, the grain is capable of synthesizing and rapidly activating an enzymatic complex.
Certain countries are structurally in deficit since they consume beer yet produce little or no barley.
Malting consists in causing the grain to germinate and set in motion the transformation undergone naturally by the plant during its growth, and then halting that transformation more or less rapidly depending on the characteristics desired.
Malteurop is first and foremost an industrial group engaged in the primary processing of barley into malt.
At its base our profession consists in ensuring the availability of malts in the right place, at the right time, at the right price, in the desired quality and quantities, at the point of secondary processing by our brewer customers.
Working together: Malteurop also puts that philosophy into practice with its own suppliers, seed producers-breeders, storage operators, and carriers. For in fact all of them make important contributions to the proper operation of the barley value chain, in particular as regards traceability and food safety.
