BARRETT Burston Malting, a wholly owned subsidiary of GrainCorp, is officially opening Queensland’s largest malting facility at Pinkenba today.
Creating new opportunities for the Queensland economy, the $80 million facility is expected to expand the market for Queensland barley growers and the opportunity to service growing demand for malt in the Asian market.
The malting plant will convert barley from Queensland and northern NSW into high quality brewing malt, with around 50 per cent of the production supplied to Foster’s Yatala brewery and the remainder exported through the Port of Brisbane to major brewers in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The new Barrett Burston malt house, which uses the latest technology and processing methods in all aspects of the design, including safety operations, has an annual capacity of 86,000 tonnes and is the culmination of five years of negotiation, planning and construction.
The malting facility is adjacent to a GrainCorp grain handling and storage terminal, into which GrainCorp has invested $12.5 million.
This investment has allowed for major refurbishment of storage and handling equipment, thereby providing Barrett Burston with an additional 12,500 tonnes of storage capacity which can receive grain by ship, rail or road.
The plant at Pinkenba is the first to be built in the State in more than forty years.
Tracing its heritage back to the 1860s, Barrett Burston Malting recently celebrated its 150th anniversary and has twice expanded its operations this year – first with the acquisition of a malt house in Western Australia, and now with this new facility in Pinkenba on the north side of the Brisbane River.
GrainCorp chairman Don Taylor said the malt house would "capture the value of combining GrainCorp’s grain business and Barrett Burston’s malt processing business".
Full-year results for GrainCorp are to be announced online. Updates to come.
