Barley, the key ingredient in brewing that perfect pint of beer, has for long been used mainly as animal fodder. But with the entry of several international manufacturers into the Indian beer market, which is growing at 15-18 per cent a year, barley cultivation is slated to become the next big opportunity. The international brands are betting big on the premium beer segment that's growing at a healthy 30-40 per cent and has led to an increase in the demand for malt barley.
Both South Asia Breweries, the makers of Carlsberg, and Asia-Pacific Breweries, the makers of Tiger beer are said to be exploring tie-ups with Pepsi's contract farmers for barley cultivation. Other MNCs may follow suit. Clearly, the international beer manufacturers, which started operations in India by importing the malt, are now mulling getting into barley cultivation since importing is proving expensive. "Growing the barley type (minimum 2.2 mm grain size) suited for brewing will govern the competition in the beer market in the future," says a liquor industry observer.
Already, the market leader United Breweries sources its barley from North India. "Barley is bought via the auction market. UB has a contract farm area of 10,000 acres in Punjab where the in-house developed two-row barley (VJM 315) is cultivated.
We also work with Pepsi which, through its contract farming initiatives in the northern part of the country, supplies us the two-row barley," said Kalyan Ganguly, president & managing director, United Breweries Ltd (UBL). Two kinds of barley are used by the beer industry
