Interest swells in Interflour venture

A record number of grain growers will travel to Vietnam in July for a first-hand glimpse at CBH Group’s plan to capitalise on the Vietnamese beer market.

Almost double the number of usual participants, a whopping 51 growers, have been selected for this year’s CBH Group’s Grower Study Tour.

The six-day pilgrimage will include the official opening of Interflour’s new InterMalt facility at its Cai Mep Port and the chance to learn more about trade routes.

Located the 71km from Ho Chi Minh City, the barley malting site will source grain Western Australia to initially produce 110,000 tonnes of malt a year.

By 2019, annual production is set to reach 220,000 tonnes to meet Vietnamese malt demand.

CBH Group marketing and trading manager Jason Craig said the trip was carefully timed.

“We thought the opening of the new InterMalt facility was a great opportunity to highlight the long-term investments Interflour is making in production facilities linking CBH’s investment and supply capabilities to the market,” Mr Craig said.

CBH bought a half-share in Interflour from Indonesia’s largest conglomerate in 2004 and it is now one of four major flour millers in South-East Asia.

The annual Grower Study Tour offers growers the opportunity to gain an understanding about the discharge, storage and processing of WA grain in Asian export markets.

It includes visits to flour mills, feed mills, breweries, markets and ports.

Growers on last year’s tour travelled to China and Vietnam to meet grain traders and visit a barley malting house, a flour miller and an oat-rolling business.

Previous trips included a 10-day tour of Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar in 2013 and a trip to Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore in 2012.

The itinerary for this year’s tour will be finalised in coming weeks.