Australians invest in Southeast Asia’s first malting plant

Call it frontier spirit. A company owned by Western Australian grain growers and the Indonesian billionaire Anthony Salim is currently constructing an AUD 90 million (USD 64 million) malting plant in Vietnam that is likely to change the face of the local brewing industry.

In 2014 European malt made up approximately 50 percent of all malt imported into Vietnam, whilst Australian malt was only 30 percent. Now Intermalt, which is actually owned by Interflour which in turn is a 50/50 joint venture between Mr Salim and the Western Australian co-op CBH, is hoping to invert these numbers.

Vietnam represents a prized opportunity for the brewing industry, thanks to its relatively established beer drinking culture. Already it is the largest beer market by volume in Southeast Asia, with consumers showing a keen appetite for a quality product.

Intermalt’s facility is currently under construction and will commence production in February 2017. The facility will produce 110,000 t of malt per annum in stage one and 220,000 t in stage two. Construction for stage two is scheduled for 2018.

It should cover about 50 percent of local demand which is estimated to reach 450,000 t by 2020.

The plant is located at the Cai Mep Agri Port, Ba Ria Vung Tau, 80 km south-east of Ho Chi Minh City. Bühler’s malting division has assisted with the design and equipment supply and is the lead contractor for the project. Flucorrex has supplied the kilning equipment and GEA the refrigeration and heat recovery systems.

Intermalt has already announced the appointments of two key management positions – Commercial and Operations Director.

Rob Wicks has joined the management team as Commercial Director. Prior to joining Intermalt he was with Cargill Malt (formerly known as Joe White Malting) as their General Manager – Commercial Australasia.

Matthias Benz has joined the management team in the position of Operations Director. Matthias has over 20 years of experience as a brewer, maltster and technologist. He is a specialist in operating start-up malt plants, having done so in more than four countries. Prior to joining Intermalt, Matthias was the head technologist for Bühler Malting Germany.