Malteurop acquires Chinese malt house with 220,000-tonne output

French cooperative group VIVESCIA said Friday that its malt business, Malteurop, has acquired the Chinese malt house Chunlei Malting Co., a deal that significantly expands its production base in China and strengthens its ability to serve brewers in Asia and export markets.

The company said the acquisition was completed this summer and was formally marked Friday at the site near Yancheng in Jiangsu province, about 300 km north of Shanghai. According to VIVESCIA, the plant can produce 220,000 tonnes of malt a year, enough to supply the equivalent of roughly 2 billion liters of beer.

The transaction gives Malteurop a larger industrial and logistics platform in a market where it says it has operated for about 30 years. The company already has a long-established site in Baoding, in Hebei province, and said the Chunlei purchase deepens its footprint closer to Chinese brewers as well as major export infrastructure.

VIVESCIA described Malteurop as the only foreign commercial maltster operating in China. The group said the new site strengthens its position in the Chinese malt market at a time when beer supply chains in Asia continue to depend on reliable access to malt, transport capacity and local production. For the beverage industry, the expansion could improve supply options for breweries in China and other Asian markets, while also giving Malteurop a larger base for export shipments.

The Yancheng plant was presented by the company as a low-carbon facility. VIVESCIA said the malting process uses heat generated from 100% local biomass, mainly rice straw, and runs on renewable electricity from wind and solar sources, with battery storage. The company said the site meets high decarbonization standards, an issue that is becoming more important for large brewing groups and their agricultural suppliers as they face pressure to reduce emissions across production and sourcing.

The official event in Yancheng was attended by local Chinese authorities, customers, partners and executives from VIVESCIA and Malteurop. France’s consul general in Shanghai, Isis Jaraud-Darnault, also attended, according to the company. VIVESCIA said the investment reflects its long-term commitment to China and its intention to combine local operations with Malteurop’s global malt expertise.

In its statement, the group said the purchase is part of its broader development strategy and could be followed by additional investments to expand capacity in the future. It also said it wants to work with local partners to support quality improvements across the barley, malt and beer chain in China, while drawing on industrial processing and environmental technologies already used in the country’s malt sector.

Malt is a basic input for brewing, and changes in malt production capacity can have direct effects on sourcing decisions for beer makers. China is one of the world’s largest beer markets, and a larger domestic malting base can help brewers manage supply security, lead times and freight exposure. By adding a plant with substantial output near export infrastructure, Malteurop is positioning itself to serve not only Chinese customers but also regional brewing demand and overseas markets from the same platform.

The deal also underlines the continuing interest of major agribusiness groups in building local production networks rather than relying only on imported malt. For Malteurop, which is one of the world’s larger malt suppliers, the acquisition adds scale in a market where being close to breweries can matter as much as raw capacity. Malt quality, shipment timing and the ability to tailor supply to different brewing profiles are all important in serving large industrial brewers as well as premium and specialty beer producers.

VIVESCIA did not disclose financial terms for the acquisition. It said the closing took place during the summer and that Friday’s ceremony was intended to mark the site’s formal inauguration under Malteurop ownership.