China’s malt industry turns to Australian barley as premium beer demand grows
Australia supplied 67% of China’s imported barley in 2025-26, with Western Australia accounting for 90% of the Australian volume. Chinese maltsters expect annual malting barley imports to rise from 4.5-4.7 million tonnes to 5-5.5 million tonnes, but they want more varieties with suitable protein and enzyme levels.
Australia dominates China’s imported barley supply
China’s expanding premium beer segment and malt export industry are strengthening demand for Australian malting barley, while also raising expectations for grain quality and varietal choice. Stock & Land reported that Australia supplied 67% of China’s imported barley in the 2025-26 financial year, with Canada providing the remaining 33%. Western Australia accounted for 90% of the Australian volume.
Dalian Xingze Malt deputy general manager Zuojun (Jack) Wang told the Grains Industry Association of Western Australia Barley Forum in Perth that all malting barley purchased by his company during the financial year came from Western Australia. China currently imports a stable 4.5 million to 4.7 million tonnes of malting barley annually. Wang expects that volume to reach 5 million to 5.5 million tonnes as imported barley gains a larger role in domestic beer production.
China also exports more than 600,000 tonnes of malt each year, and the volume is growing. This creates two sources of demand for imported grain: domestic breweries and overseas buyers of Chinese malt. Beer production in China has averaged between 35 million and 36 million kilolitres over the past five years.
Premium beer changes malt specifications
The Chinese beer market is shifting from regular products toward mid-to-high-end, high-end and ultra-high-end categories. According to figures presented by Wang, mid-to-high-end beer represented 38.7% of sales volume in 2025-26 and generated about 68% of revenue and 74% of gross profit. Stock & Land also quoted him as saying that this segment contributed less than 14% of sales volume but more than 70% of gross profit, leaving an apparent inconsistency in the reported volume shares. High-end beer accounted for 11%-13% of volume, while ultra-high-end beer represented 2%-3%.
Premium producers increasingly require specialised yeast and customised malt to create distinctive flavours. Wang said the Australian Maximus variety is widely, and sometimes exclusively, used in China for premium beer because of its malting characteristics. Spartacus and Planet are also used for high-end malt and premium beer, but current supplies do not meet Chinese demand. He called for Australia to provide at least two or three high-quality malting barley varieties for the market.
Cost advantage comes with quality challenges
Australian barley has a clear landed-cost advantage over Canadian grain. It enters China tariff-free under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, while Canadian barley and supplies from other origins face a 3% import tariff. Australian barley also has moisture content of 10%-10.5%, compared with 12%-13.5% for Canadian barley. Wang estimated that these factors make Australian malting barley approximately US$10 per tonne cheaper to import.
Canada retains advantages in protein and enzyme performance. Canadian barley generally has protein content above 12%, compared with about 10%-10.5% for Australian grain. Chinese breweries require malt protein of at least 9.8%, implying barley protein above 10.3% because some protein is lost during malting. Wang said a new Australian variety containing 10.5%-11% protein would better suit Chinese breweries. Canadian barley also offers higher free amino nitrogen and diastatic power, which support fermentation, aroma and beer freshness, although Maximus has relatively high diastatic power among Australian varieties.
Quality deterioration in Australian fair average quality barley, used for regular beer, is another concern. Typical contracts require protein above 9.5%, retention above 75%, screenings below 5%, foreign material below 1.5% and a thousand-kernel weight above 38 grams. Wang said Australian specifications had weakened over the past two years, but added that barley from other origins could not replace Australian supplies if those standards were maintained.
Dalian Xingze Malt is also testing the Neo variety. Grain from Western Australia had undersized kernels, so the company purchased Neo from Australia’s east coast. It plans to malt the batch in September and then offer the finished malt for brewery trials. If it meets specifications, Neo could enter beer producers’ procurement lists next year.
