The harvesting of brewing barley sown as part of the test project of Carlsberg Azerbaijan and AzərŞəkər (Azersheker) companies was successfully completed.

Brewing barley was sown on November 21, 2019 in the Shamkir district on an area of 8.4 hectares. The seed material was supplied by the French company Secobra, one of the leaders in the selection of winter barley varieties. At the same time, samples of each variety were transferred to the Agency of Agricultural Services under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan for conducting acclimatization tests.

It should be noted that the pilot project for the cultivation of malting barley in Azerbaijan was initiated by our company and AzərŞəkər company to localize raw materials for brewing production.

The main purpose of the test sowing is to determine the potential productivity of these varieties by testing them in local conditions, matching their quality indicators in terms of suitability for brewing purposes. Barley must meet specification parameters, including germinative energy, protein content and extractiveness.

If the pilot project gives positive results, the cultivation of malting barley can be scaled up, which will fully cover the need for malting barley in the country due to local raw materials in the upcoming years.

Vyacheslav Maltsev, Managing Director of Carlsberg Azerbaijan: “The project for test sowing of malting barley is one of the key priorities of Carlsberg Azerbaijan for the upcoming years, because our goal is not only to optimize the production process by localizing key brewing raw materials, which, of course, is also very important. It is also important for us become one of the pioneers in the cultivation of malting barley in Azerbaijan after decades. Samples of barley grown in the Shamkir region were transferred to the local and regional laboratories of the Carlsberg Group to determine suitability in the brewing industry, and we very much hope that we will soon be able to present high-quality Azerbaijani beer produced on local barley to the consumer”.

Anar Mehdiev, Managing Director of AzərŞəkər Company: “One of the goals of our company is to increase the production of food stuff consumed in our country by providing manufacturers with high-quality local raw materials. In view of this, we attach great importance to cooperation with Carlsberg company.

We consider it possible to fully satisfy the company's need for malting barley at the expense of our grown products, and in turn, we are ready to use our cultivated areas not only in Shamkir, but also in Agjabadi, Yevlakh districts.

In addition to grain products, AzərŞəkər also specializes in growing sugar beets, and in the near future, our plans include achieving the production of granulated sugar in Azerbaijan by increasing the volume of sugar beet cultivation.

We would like to express our gratitude to the employees of the Ministry of Economy for the support provided in cooperation with Carlsberg Azerbaijan.” 

 Carlsberg Azerbaijan Brewery is located in Khirdalan, 10 kilometers from the capital of Azerbaijan. The production capacity of the plant is 8 million decaliters per year, the company employs about 260 people and about 400 are indirect (distributors, agencies, contractors). The total investment of the company in the development of the plant is more than 50 million AZN. The company's portfolio includes such popular brands as Khirdalan (Xirdalan), Carlsberg, Baltic, Tuborg, Afsana, Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc, Seth & Riley's Garage, AzərŞəkər company etc.  

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