Port of Antwerp gets biggest malt plant in the world

The Boortmalt malting works in Antwerp is being expanded to make it the largest in the world. Its parent company, the French grain cooperative Axéréal, is investing several million euros in its maltery in the Antwerp port area where it also plans to set up an R&D centre for its malt masters. Serving the world Malt is the main ingredient in beer, and Boortmalt supplies brewing giants such as AB InBev and Heineken. The port of Antwerp is the ideal base from which to export to growth markets such as South America, Africa and Asia. Axéréal has ten malt plants in Europe which will shortly have an annual production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes. The new investment will raise the capacity of the Antwerp plant from 360,000 to 470,000 tonnes. The grain cooperative has chosen Antwerp as the multimodal hub for its European goods flow. The main advantages of Antwerp are the logistics capacity to handle and store the full product range and package it in bags, bulk and containers. The art and science of brewing Malt is the main ingredient in beer and whisky. However the art of brewing these cheering beverages depends on a great deal of scientific and technical know-how, and so in addition to the largest malt plant in the world Axéréal is also setting up an R&D centre in the port of Antwerp in order to tailor the production to the local raw materials. The expansion of the production capacity and the new R&D centre will generate an additional 15 jobs. “says Boortmalt CEO Yan Schaepman. Yvan Schaepman, CEO Boortmalt commented “With this new malt complex Boortmalt will be able to offer its customers unique, innovative, high-quality products and services”.