Latin America’s Barley Sector Builds Ties with U.S. Producers and Exporters

The U.S. Grains Council recently escorted two teams from Latin America and Mexico to key U.S. barley growing areas including Colorado, Montana and North Dakota.

By: Javier Chavez, U.S. Grains Council Marketing Specialist in Mexico

Latin America’s primary use of barley is in the brewing sector, either as malt or malting barley. To strengthen this growing sector’s ties with U.S. barley producers and malt exporters, the U.S. Grains Council recently escorted two teams from Latin America and Mexico to key U.S. barley growing areas including Colorado, Montana and North Dakota.

The two teams were comprised of different sectors of the Latin American brewery industry. The team from Mexico included representatives from the two largest foreign buyers of U.S. malting barley, while the team from the Latin America region was comprised of microbreweries representatives from Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

This was the first ever group of Latin American microbreweries representatives escorted by the Council to the United States in an effort to become better engaged with this rapidly developing sector. Craft brewers brand themselves as producers of high quality beer, so it’s important for participants in this sector to learn about the United States’ production of high-quality malt and malting barley. Although currently small, this sector produces a high-value, premium product and is a booming market in which establishing strong ties will be beneficial over the long term.

Mexico’s commercial brewers have traditionally had excellent relationships with U.S. suppliers in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. However, changes within the beer industry in Mexico are threatening this relationship. The Council is hoping to combat this by reassuring the team that U.S. malting barley varieties will continue to conform to their quality specifications.

While in the U.S., both groups also received information about the outlook for the 2014/2015 U.S. barley crop and new developments that will help the United States be the top long-term supplier of malting barley.

The Council will continue to promote U.S. malting barley to Latin American buyers to help expand U.S. market share in this growing market.

Click here to view photos of the teams.