About SKY MALT
Our story
SKY MALT is the malt export division of SKY AGRO, registered in England as SKY AGRO LTD. We supply base and speciality malt to breweries and distributors in more than 17 countries.
SKY AGRO started in agricultural trade, buying and selling cereals, oilseeds and oilseed cakes in Ukraine and abroad. Malting barley was part of that business: we supplied it to maltings across Ukraine and came to know the malt supply chain from the inside.
Ukraine grows high-quality malting barley and can produce malt at low cost, but exports relatively little of it. We set up SKY MALT to supply that malt to breweries and distributors abroad, and have since added production partners in Slovakia and China.
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2024
SKY MALT founded
SKY AGRO sets up its malt export division, starting with pilot trials.
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2025
New markets
Regular supply across Europe and the UK, followed by the first customers in Brazil, Mexico and Japan.
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2026
Slovakia and China
New production partners in Slovakia, from late 2025, and in China, from early 2026.
Our OEM production model
We manage the whole supply chain, from buying the barley to delivering the malt. The malting itself is done by selected partner facilities, to our specifications.
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Barley sourcing
We buy malting barley to our own specifications.
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Storage and transport
We manage the storage, cleaning and domestic transport of the barley.
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Malting
Partner malting facilities malt our barley for us, to our specifications.
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Packing and delivery
We arrange packing, shipping and all contact with the customer.
Without the fixed costs of our own plant, we can keep prices competitive while controlling quality from barley to delivery. It also lets us adapt packaging, shipping, specification, origin and payment terms to each customer. The details are on our Quality and Logistics pages.
Multi-origin malt supply
Our malt is produced at more than five partner malting facilities in Ukraine, Slovakia and China, with access to over 100,000 tonnes of capacity a year. With several origins we can supply large volumes, keep supply going if one origin is affected by a poor harvest or disruption, and offer each customer the origin that suits their market.
Ukraine
Ukraine has always grown plenty of high quality malt barley, but until the late 2000s it had no modern malting industry of its own and relied on imported malt. Its first modern malting plants opened in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Most of these plants were soon bought by international malting groups, which supply their customers mainly from their established plants elsewhere in Europe. Ukrainian malt has therefore been hard to obtain on the open market.
Our Ukrainian partner facilities are in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, in the west of the country, close to an exceptional barley growing region and with direct rail links to the EU. Sourcing, production and shipping have continued without interruption since 2022.
- Region
- Khmelnytskyi Oblast
- Main barley variety
- Sebastian
Slovakia
Slovakia has long been an agricultural country, with fertile lowlands in the south-west and east that suit malting barley. Its malting industry has always been export-oriented: most Slovak malt is sold abroad, mainly to breweries in neighbouring countries.
Our Slovak partners work to the same specifications and quality standards as our Ukrainian base. Slovak malt is of EU origin, which gives preferential access to markets with EU trade agreements, and it is where our speciality malts are produced.
- Regions
- Trnava and Košice
- Main barley variety
- Overture
China
China's malting industry serves one of the largest beer markets in the world. It is led by large groups such as COFCO Malt and GDH Supertime, but remains fragmented, with many smaller, less well-known malting plants alongside them.
The industry is highly efficient, which keeps production costs low, and it has modernised rapidly over the past decade, with a marked improvement in malt quality. Its malting barley is imported, mainly from Australia and Canada.
- Provinces
- Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Hubei
- Main barley varieties
- Maximus CL (Australian barley), AAC Synergy (Canadian barley)
Our values and culture
What we believe in, and how we treat the people we work with.
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Partnership
We would rather build a relationship over many seasons than win a single order. When our partners and customers do well, we do well too, and that kind of success lasts.
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Respect
Farmers, maltsters, hauliers, brewers and colleagues all contribute to the malt we sell. We treat each of them fairly, keep our word and listen before we answer.
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Openness
We speak plainly and share what we know. Anyone at SKY MALT can question a decision or bring a new idea, because a good idea counts for more than a job title.