Construction of Coopers’ new Malthouse next to its Regency Park brewery in Adelaide / Australia is well underway and scheduled to open by the end of 2017. The A$63 million malthouse is the largest single item of capital expenditure in Coopers’ history. Only one third of the capacity of 54,000 tons of malted barley a year is needed for the own beer. The remainder will go into export, namely to booming beer markets in Asia.
Coopers Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, is positive about the future of the malting plant: “The new plant will guarantee our supply of high quality malt for future growth. It also marks Coopers’ return to the malting business after the sale in 2002 of Adelaide Malting Company to Ausbulk to help fund the move from Leabrook to Regency Park.” Adelaide Malting Company started in 1986 and was sold in 2002 at a price of A$16 million. Today, Adelaide Malting Company is part of international maltster Cargill with products which are branded Joe White Maltings.
The construction of the Malthouse comprises three steeps, four vessels, a kiln and grain silos, connected to the brewery by an overhead gallery. The contract for a new A$3.5 million refrigeration plant has just been signed with local refrigeration firm Cold Logic. Construction work is being undertaken by South Australian firm Ahrens.
Coopers has been successful in decoupling from the trend of declining beer consumption in Australia in the last years. The family owned brewery has enjoyed compound annual sales growth of 9.2% for the past 23 years. Beer sales have been rising 3.3% during 2015-16 to a record 815,000 hectoliters. Revenue had increased in the same period by 4.6% to A$245.9 million
