Highland Grain’s target market is the Scotch Whisky industry.  This market is seen as hugely important to the Scottish economy and is, of course, local.  Scotch Whisky is one of the top five export earners for the UK and contributes a massive £800 million in taxes annually to the UK Exchequer (Source: Scotch Whisky Association).

The total annual requirement for malting barley in Scotland is around 650,000 tonnes, of which around 500,000 tonnes is required for Scotch Whisky distilling.  The total UK market for malting barley is around 1.7 million tonnes and so Scotland is a significant part of that total.  On an EU-25 basis, annual requirement is in the order of 8 to 9 million tonnes, whereas globally, the total usage is approximately 23 million tonnes.  The EU-25 is therefore a major player in the World trade of malt and malting barley.

The whisky market is looking for malting barley, which is low in nitrogen (i.e. protein) and high in starch, plus good grain size and very high germination qualities.  The brewing market, on the other hand, requires malting barley at generally higher nitrogen.  This differentiation makes the whisky market more of a niche market and one which can carry extra value for growers.