Boortmalt has announced to reopen a malting facility at Cavan, South Australia (SA) from the middle of this year. The Cavan malting plant was one of seven malthouses in Australia acquired in November 2019 when France's largest grain cooperative Axereal and its malting division Boortmalt in Antwerp, Belgium took over Cargill’s malting division to become the world’s largest malting group. (inside, 4.11.2019)
The business in Australia is now part of Boortmalt Asia Pacific, headquartered in Melbourne. The plant infrastructure and control systems of the Cavan malting plant will be extensively upgraded with a focus on quality improvements, sustainability initiatives and efficient production.
The reopening will support the growing demand for brewing and distilling malts in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, the company said in a media release.
Yvan Schaepman, CEO Boortmalt Group, said: “The reopening of Cavan malthouse was one of our priorities after the integration to allow us to rapidly expand our production capacities in Australia to support the development of our local customers and supply our export markets in Asia and South America.”
The Cavan Malthouse will provide an additional annual capacity of 77,000 tonnes of malt to support the company’s existing malting operations in Port Adelaide and provide opportunities for an additional 10 employees.
Ian Maccan, Regional Managing Director Boortmalt Asia-Pacific, said: “Thanks to the proximity of our malting plant in Port Adelaide, we can restart production quickly by delegating supply chain, cleaning and storage to our existing infrastructure. Before the end of the year, we plan to rehabilitate the storage silos and cleaning plants. In January 2022, the malt house will be fully operational with the capability to produce, store and pack malt ready for direct supply to our business partners.”
Boortmalt operates in Australia as Joe White Malting, one of the oldest maltsters in the world, originating from Ballarat, Victoria. It has operated its malting business in Australia since 1858.
Today, with six operating plants across five states, Boortmalt is ideally positioned to access Australia’s premium barley growing areas, ensuring the delivery of high-quality malt to its brewing and distilling customers.
As part of Boortmalt’s global sustainability goals, the reopening of the Cavan plant will positively contribute to reducing the group’s carbon footprint by reducing logistics emissions due to shorter distances in transporting barley and malt to end users.
Furthermore, the reopening of Cavan is also a positive announcement for SA growers, particularly for local malting barley production. Boortmalt, in addition to buying SA barley, will work directly with farmer groups to collaborate in regenerative farming programs in the region to assure sustainable barley supply to its maltings in Cavan and Port Adelaide.
