Pocatello malt plant plans $75M expansion

A Pocatello malt plant plans to more than double its capacity with a $75 million investment.

Expansion will start at the Great Western Malting Plant on North Kraft Road later this year.

The plant’s owner, Austrailian-based GrainCorp, said the expansion is being driven by high demand from craft brewers like Portneuf Valley Brewing.

Penny Pink, who owns the brewery, has been getting her malt from Great Western Malting for the last 19 years. She said she’s happy to hear the plant is expanding.

“The (craft beer) industry’s just burgeoning. It’s been fantastic for me to see it as a brewer being in this industry since its infancy,” said Pink.

GrainCorp said the craft beer market has grown by 10 to 15 percent each year over the last few years. In the next five years, GrainCorp expects craft brewing to make up to 20 percent of the nation’s total beer market.

Once expansion is completed in mid-2017, the Pocatello plant will have a capacity of 220,000 metric tonnes.