Title: New development opportunities for the craft brewing segment: the case study of a micro-malthouse

Authors: Vincenzo Alfeo; Aldo Todaro; Antonio Asciuto; Valeria Borsellino; Emanuele Schimmenti

Addresses: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, Building 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, Building 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, Building 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, Building 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy ' Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, Building 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Abstract: In Italy in the past few years, the number of small breweries penetrating the craft beer sector has grown exponentially. Craft producers intend to give a strong added value and a local character to their production in different ways. One of these is the use of malt derived from small batches of local cereals and pseudo cereals. The aim of this study is the assessment of investment profitability, through a cost-benefit analysis (CBA), for a compact and a modular micro-malting plant in Sicily (Southern Italy). The CBA for a micro-malthouse was carried out considering both installation and operating costs. Net present value (NPV), discounted benefit-cost ratio (DBCR) and internal rate of return (IRR) highlight the feasibility of an investment in a compact 2-tonnes micro-malthouse. Sensitivity analysis shows positive results of the above financial indices up to a 15% increase in the raw material costs, while with a 10% reduction of malt selling price, the same indices start being negative.

Keywords: malting; malting plant; cereal processing; CBA; cost-benefit analysis; Sicily; internal areas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2017.088919

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 2017 Vol.9 No.2/3, pp.105 - 119

Received: 03 Mar 2017
Accepted: 28 Jun 2017
Published online: 02 Jan 2018 *

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