Calgary, Alberta
April 27, 2005
Reprinted with permission from
Meristem Land and Science -
www.meristem.com
The Canadian
brewing industry needs more, high-quality Canadian malt barley.
Although domestic brewers can't
buy barley directly from producers, they want to establish a
stronger relationship with growers as part of its plan to expand
into international markets.
"The brewing industry needs to
know it has the barley supply and quality so we can negotiate
new international agreements," says Luke Harford, a spokesman
for the Brewers of Canada. "The drought of 2002, which reduced
barley supplies, was a real wake-up call for brewers. We need to
get the message out to farmers that our industry has a year-in,
year-out demand that has to be met."
Harford, who spoke recently to
a Western Barley Growers
Association conference in Canmore, Alta., is based at the
Brewers of Canada office in Richmond, Ont.
The brewing industry is a
significant contributor to the Canadian economy, Harford points
out. The association's 16 members who produce 97 percent of beer
produced in Canada, have invested more than $2 billion over the
last 10 years to expand and upgrade beer making and distribution
facilities. Along with buying 380,000 metric tonnes of barley
from Canadian growers annually, beer sales also contribute about
$4 billion to federal tax coffers.
Growers' want change
Although many growers favor an
open or dual-marketing system that would allow them to contract
barley production directly to the malt and brewing industries,
that option isn't available to the
Canadian Wheat Board
(CWB) monopoly over wheat and barley sales. All export and
human-food quality wheat and barley produced in Western Canada
must be marketed through the CWB.
"And we're not out to 'get the
board'," says Harford referring to the long-running debate. "But
we do want to ensure that the Canadian Wheat Board operates in a
more commercial fashion."
The drought of 2002 put the
brewing industry in a supply bind. Not only did barley (and
other crop) yields drop by an estimated 60 percent, but because
the demand and price for non-board feed barley was high, a
considerable amount of malt barley was sold into that cash
livestock-feed market.
While some producers claim the
CWB was only paying farmers between $1.50 and $2 per bushel for
malt barley, Canadian brewers on the other hand were paying the
board as much as $6 per bushel for barley. "While $4.20 to $4.90
per bushel is more average, at one point we were paying as much
as $330 per tonne ($6/bushel)," says Harford. "We want to work
with producers and the Canadian Wheat Board to close the price
spread and have an assured supply of malt barley."
Expensive supply options
Canadian brewers have few
economical or convenient alternatives for sourcing malt barley,
says Harford. The United States – actually a net-importer of
malt barley – produces only a limited amount of the two-row malt
barley used in Canada. While malt can be shipped in from Europe,
transportation costs are high. Because most Canadian breweries
are located in-land, the malt has to be shipped by containers.
"And container transportation is very expensive," he says.
Tariffs also apply to most malt
imported to Canada. The first 20,000 metric tonnes are exempt
from tariffs, but for an industry using nearly 400,000 tonnes,
it doesn’t take long for tariff charges to apply. "Between
tariffs and transportation bringing malt in from some other
source is a real cost issue," he says.
With a quality-product
reputation and plant capacity, Canadian brewers are looking to
expand into international markets. "As the industry becomes more
globally integrated, we want to develop relationships outside of
Canada," says Harford. "This could mean brewing other beers for
sales in Canada or brewing beers for the export market. But the
commercial foundation to these relationships depends on having
the guarantee of supply and quality of malt barley. We need to
know we will have the barley available before we can negotiate
these agreements."
While the brewing industry
would welcome the opportunity to deal directly with producers,
Harford says the CWB has shown no interest in pursuing that
option.
Until that happens, the brewers
are prepared to work within the current system. "We accept the
Wheat Board as a reality," he says. "We believe that its
continued existence as a major single desk seller is a matter
for growers to determine. However we also believe that the role
and mandate of the Canadian Wheat Board needs to be expanded to
take into account its impact on Canadian value added activity –
like brewing and malting. It also needs to be expanded in the
context of its impact on the ability of farmers to be
innovative."
Reprinted with permission from
Meristem Land and Science -
www.meristem.com |