MAGB Chairman calls for closer co-operation in the cereals’ sector

Looking to the links and communication in the supply chain, he commented that procurement strategies which place opposing demands on commercial and technical departments are not sustainable. In particular, he identified that the growers, merchants, maltsters and end users who worked closely together were realizing benefits of sustainability that allowed better business management across the cycle. Volatility in prices on the open market resulted from short-term opportunism at various points in the chain. At the extreme, loss of malting barley to export markets, often as feed barley, could results in shortfalls for UK supply – which benefits no-one in the UK market for malt.

“Maltsters continue to seek dialogue from grower to end-user to ensure long-term relationships and understanding for the mutual benefit of all parties in the chain”, he concluded.