Minnesota, North Dakota Barley Growers Explore New Markets in China

China is the biggest importer of malting barley so it only makes sense that an effort is being made to export barley grown in this region to that country. A delegation from Minnesota and North Dakota recently returned from a trip to Wuxi, China where they introduced six-row malting barley to Chinese brewers.

Minnesota and North Dakota are major six-row malting barley producing states but lost China as a malting barley market in the 1990’s when two-row malting barley was considered to be more profitable to brewers. For nearly two decades, Midwest barley growers and agronomists have worked to improve the quality of six-row malting barley and are now reintroducing it overseas.

“One of the goals of this trip was to provide training to Chinese brewing chemists about the brewing characteristics of six-row malting barley and brewing technologies used in U.S.,” said Kurt Markham, Marketing Director for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). “We were able to bring about 100 brewing experts together to illustrate the benefit of using six-row barley in brewing recipes.”

A significant percent of six-row malt is used by American craft breweries of all sizes to produce award-winning beers. According to the U.S. Grains Council, although two-row varieties are higher in test weight and kernel production plumpness, six-row barley has superior enzyme characteristics, which are crucial in beverage production.

Markham says while touring a new malting plant near Shanghai, the group learned it takes seven days to complete the malting process while it takes only five days in the U.S. He says the Chinese brewers requested and will be provided more technical information about the malting process used in the U.S.

Growers from the Minnesota and North Dakota Barley Councils will be sending additional barley samples to China for subsequent micro-brewing trials.

The trip was made possible with federal funds granted to the MDA to conduct malting barley fermentation trials and training in China.

Several organizations, including the Minnesota and North Dakota Barley Councils, the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC), Cargill Malt, North Dakota State University and Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China are partnering