Structural capacity adjustments continue to reshape the global malt industry, with Boortmalt, one of the world’s leading malt producers, aligning its industrial footprint to weaker demand from brewers and distillers worldwide.
In a press release dated 15 December 2025, Boortmalt points to the inflation-driven decline in global beer consumption since 2023, which has reduced malt demand across most regions. More recently, whisky production in the UK and Ireland has slowed as distillers rebalance inventories and respond to changing trade conditions, further dampening demand for malt.
As part of its response, Boortmalt confirmed the permanent closure of its Gembloux malting plant in Belgium, which had already been mothballed for a year. The site represents an annual malting capacity of around 30,000 tonnes. The group will also allow its toll-malting agreement with Cargill in Salzgitter to expire, affecting a further 80,000 tonnes of annual capacity.
In Hungary, weaker beer demand will lead to several months of temporary production stoppages at the Dunaujváros malting plant. In the Asia-Pacific region, Boortmalt stated that two Australian malting plants remain mothballed in line with previous communications. These include Tamworth in New South Wales, with an annual capacity of about 45,000 tonnes, and Cavan in South Australia, with 77,000 tonnes per year. The Cavan site had only been reopened in 2021 following a significant investment programme. Both plants form part of Boortmalt Asia Pacific, headquartered in Melbourne, and operate under the Joe White Malting business.
Taken together, the permanent closures, contract exits and temporary mothballing measures mean that Boortmalt is currently taking up to 300,000 tonnes of annual malting capacity out of the market, which represents nearly 10% of its worldwide yearly business of 3.1 million tonnes of malt.
This compares with capacity reductions in Germany announced by Soufflet Malt, part of French agribusiness InVivo and the world’s largest malting group, where the confirmed closure of the entire Durst Malz business accounts for around 200,000 tonnes of annual capacity. (inside.beer, 9.12.2025).
In addition, market observers see further temporary reductions at other maltings, which could amount in total to a similar order of magnitude.
Boortmalt underlines that its measures are designed to balance global supply with demand while maintaining continuity, reliability and consistent quality for customers. The group states at its website that it operates 27 malting plants across five continents with a total capacity of around 3.1 million tonnes and is a subsidiary of Axereal.
