1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there is one OFFER for 3000 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1250 - 3000 mtons of malt, 2RS, crop 2003, Bulk, delivery 1/1/2004 - 31/8/2004, at EUR 290.00/mton, CIF St Petersburg. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1107P1147)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

More news is available on site www.e-malt.com  

• The Poland’s beer maker, Grupa Zywiec, owned by Dutch brewing force Heineken, intends to sell two of its smaller breweries to Brok-Strzelec, Polish press reported ...more info



• Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta has introduced in Britain the world's first hybrid variety of barley, developed to be hardier and to improve yields, it said on July 10 ...more info



• For the second time this week, the Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar has claimed victory in court over beer giant Anheuser-Busch and this time in Spain ...more info



• Byelorussian breweries will brew by 723 million litres of beer per year by 2006, according to ima-press.ru. In 2005 they plan to brew 600 million litres of beer ...more info



• The Georgian brewing company, “Kazbeghi”, based in the former republic of USSR, Georgia, will send this week 45,000 half litre bottles of beer in Iraq ...more info



• A stake in the German brewer and drinks group, Brau und Brunnen is under considerations to be bought by the German food company, Oetker Group, according to German press ...more info



• The German brewing group, Brau und Brunnen, announced on July 8 that it has acquired the southern German brewer, Tucher Brau GmbH ...more info



• The investment bank, Morgan Stanley, has reduced its rating on the USA brewing force, Adolph Coors, to "underweight" from "equal-weight" ...more info




2. Brewery News

Japanese sales of beer and happoshu, fell by 7.7% in the first half of 2003 to 3.03 million kilolitres, according to Japan's five major brewers. That is the biggest drop since 1992 when Kirin, Suntory, Asahi, Sapporo and Orion, began jointly monitoring the market, revealed the statistics, based on a survey carried out by the companies. Sales of happoshu, low-malt beer, fell by 2.0% in January through June this year due to a tax hike in May, said the breweries. The government raised the liquor tax on happoshu on May 1, nudging consumers to switch to cheaper low-alcohol-content beverages, industry officials said In terms of market share, Asahi remained the market leader according to the latest data, with 39.3%, followed by Kirin with 35.8%, Sapporo with 13.3% and Suntory with 10.9%.

The Czech brewing force Budejovicky Budvar has won a legal battle against the US brewer Anheuser-Busch in Taiwan, the company announced July 8, according to Associated Press. Budvar said in a statement that the Taiwanese high court upheld the company's rights for the Budejovicky Budvar trade name in the country. Anheuser-Busch had earlier appealed the registration of the Budvar's Budejovicky Budvar trade name in Taiwan, arguing the name is too similar to its own flagship trade name Budweiser and may be confusing to beer drinkers in the Asian country. The two companies have battled over the name Budweiser since 1906, when the Czech brewery began exporting its product to the United States. The companies are involved in more than 40 lawsuits...more info

Brewing enterprises owned by SUN Interbrew Ukraine have increased beer output during the first half of the year by 33.9% against the same period last year and brewed in January-June up to 266.1 million litres of beer, Ukrpivo reported in a statement. In June 2003 SUN Interbrew Ukraine produced 69.21 million litres of beer, 24.2% more than in May 2003 and 47% more than in June 2002. According to Ukrpivo, SUN Interbrew Ukraine increased its beer output in 2002 by 19.7% against 2001 and produced 444.86 million litres of beer. In 2002 the company held 30.9% stake of the Ukrainian beer market. Sun Interbrew Ukraine owns three brewing plants in Ukraine: Rogani, Desna and Yantari.

3. Malt News

Inside the EU Carlsberg covered their needs for Switzerland and Italy, prices were EUR 275,- to 280,- DDU. Heineken is reported to have covered most of their demand for their plants in the EU, reported prices were in the low 260’s (EUR) for spring barley and the low 250’s for winter barley malt.

Market prices leave a very small malting margin to maltsters. They are also based on low prices of malting barley. It is fairly safe to say that prices can hardly be lower in Euro currency, but they could be higher, if the barley crop turns out less good than forecast until a few weeks ago.

4. Barley News

The French Ministry of Agriculture published its first official crop estimate for winter barley, 6.4 million tons instead of the 6.8-6.9 million tons, which were estimated earlier. Damages caused by frost in winter and by dry conditions and heat in spring and early summer, were worse than expected. Quality of Esterel malting barley is variable, but altogether disappointing, 70-75 % full barley above 2.5 mm, 10.5 to 13 % protein. Deliveries to the malting industry are expected well below 1 million tons vs. 1.8 million tons a year ago. There are no results yet of spring barley, but the recent heat wave may have had a bad effect as well.

The US group, Coors Brewing Company, announced on July 10 it will buy $10 million worth of barley from 155 growers in Montana, and $7 million for barley grown by 116 farmers in Wyoming. The announcement came during the Coors-sponsored Barley Field Day in Huntley. In Wyoming, Coors contracted with 116 growers in the Big Horn Basin to grow 20,000 acres to yield 2 million bushels of the company's patented two-row Moravian barley. In Montana, the company has contracted with 155 growers in the Billings area and along the High Line to grow 36,000 acres to yield 3 million bushels. The company also gave out awards. The top grower in Montana is Greg Miller of Billings. The Environmental Conservation Award went to a cooperative consisting of the Benzel Brothers, Webber Farms, Tim Schumway and John L. Mehling, all of the Hardin area, for their efforts to improve irrigation efficiency. The top grower in the northern Big Horn Basin is Greg Borcher of Powell. The top grower for the southern Big Horn Basin was Jordan Farms of Worland.