International drinks producer Diageo has temporarily halted operations at one of their Scottish production sites.

It has recently confirmed that the drinks giant will pause production at the group’s Roseisle Maltings near Elgin. At the time of writing this is said to be a temporary measure and production will resume in June 2026.

Diageo has confirmed that there will be no job losses as a result of the suspension and that affected staff will be redeployed to other sites or utilised in other roles.

The Roseisle Maltings has been producing malt since the 1980s and processes around 35,000 tonnes of grain a year. The site makes up part of Diageo’s Roseisle Distillery. The distillery opened in 2009 and has the capacity to produce over 12 million litres of alcohol annually, making it one of the biggest distilleries in Scotland. Production at the distillery will be unaffected by the maltings closure.

A statement from Diageo said that the decision was made due to a decline in demand. While the site is expected to reopen next summer, the statement added that “future production is currently under review.”

A spokesperson for Diageo said: “We have temporarily paused production at Roseisle Maltings as we look to balance capacity against current demand. We continue to assess production volumes and will communicate future plans as part of the normal planning cycle.”

Finally, Diageo have confirmed that they remain confident in the Scotch whisky category and committed to its longterm success. Shutting down Roseisle Maltings is an effort to manage Diageo’s inventory following “a period of sustained growth and associated investment.”

Indeed, this is only the latest of many steps Diageo has taken to manage their inventory recently. Back in September the group announced operational pauses at whisky distilleries on both side of the Atlantic.

(Check out our recent article ‘Diageo Announce Production Pauses at US and UK Sites’ for more information).

The global whisky industry has been enduring an incredibly tough period recently, with whisky makers big and small announcing production pauses or, in some cases, permanent closures. Hopefully these preventative steps help are effective in protecting these sites for the future.