Viterra Inc of Canada said on Friday that it would sustain the completion of the planned $110 million Minto malthouse in southwest Sydney, which was initiated by ABB Grain Ltd prior to its acquisition by the Canadian firm for $1.6 billion in September 2009.

Viterra chief operating officer Fran Malecha said that once fully operational, the malthouse would support additional capacity for long term growth in the Asian malt markets, which he said were expected "to grow significantly over the next 10 years, driven by increasing populations and rising per capita income levels."

Mr Malecha said that Viterra's new malting and packing facilities in Sydney provides the company the necessary edge it requires as it continues its work "to serve new and existing customers and strive to be the supplier of choice in both the domestic and international markets."

He noted that Sydney is strategically positioned for the company's malting operations, giving Viterra direct access to premium malting barley crops and superior port shipping that enables the company to ship its products into major markets.

Viterra said that the completed Minto malthouse is poised to produce an annual yield of 110,000 metric tonnes of malt every year while its adjacent container packing facility could handle a maximum of 147,000 tonnes of grain every year, which the company said would conveniently position Viterra as the leading malt producer in Australia.

Projected completion of the malthouse would take a maximum of two years, according to Viterra, as it added that despite emerging competitions from European malt supplies "the long-term fundamentals of this business remain strong and that the timing of the plant coming on-stream will ideally coincide with the expected recovery in the global malt industry."