The Future of Brewing Barley

  • Reading time:12 min(s) read

In 2011, the world harvested an estimated 132.35 million metric tons (MT) of barley for all uses, including not just brewing, but also animal feed and human food. This estimate is virtually the same as the yield recorded in 2002, when 134.6 million MT of barley were harvested worldwide. The world’s malting and brewing industry, which currently produces some 1.8 billion hectoliters (hl) of beer a year—and which has grown an average of 2.8 percent annually during the past decade—requires only about one quarter of the global barley harvest, or less than 35 million MT. (more…)