E-Malt.com newsletter 29b. July 21

United Kingdom: S&N and SABMiller sign new beer agreement

Scottish & Newcastle and its rival SABMiller announced on July 21 a new agreement on the brewing, sales and distribution of two of SAB's key brands, Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro.

SABMiller plc announced on the same day the launch of MILLER BRANDS (UK) Limited, a new operating company which will manage the sales, marketing and distribution of Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Miller Genuine Draft and Castle Lager in the UK. For the first time, MILLER BRANDS will drive the strategic direction and investment for all four of SABMiller’s premium brands in the UK. An initial investment of £30 million (US$52 million) over the next two years signals the company’s determination to increase its share of the premium beer market.

As part of this move, SABMiller has reached a new agreement with Scottish & Newcastle plc to transfer the marketing and distribution rights for Miller Genuine Draft to MILLER BRANDS from January 2006. At the same time Scottish & Newcastle will transfer back the distribution rights for Peroni Nastro Azzurro in the off-trade. Scottish & Newcastle will continue to contract brew Miller Genuine Draft and manage the ‘Miller Beer’ brand under licence in the UK.

Gary Whitlie, Managing Director of MILLER BRANDS, commented: “We have an exciting portfolio of well known international brands that we believe has strong growth potential in the UK.

...more info

China: Kingway Brewery Holdings invests US$ 100 million in a new brewery

Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd. announced on July 20 it has entered into an agreement with the Economic & Technological Development Zone of Xi'an city to invest US$100 million (EUR 82 million) in a brewing unit, named Kingway Beer Xian Company, in the western Chinese city.

The Hong Kong-listed Company made the announcement through a disclosure to the Hong Kong stock exchange, on which it is listed. Kingway said the project will include a brewing facility with a capacity of 200,000 metric tons (220,000 short tons) a year.

Construction of the first phase of the project with an investment of US$50 million and an annual production of 200,000 liters of beer will start in April 2006, and be completed in April 2007.

Upon completion of the second phase of the project, Kingway Beer Xian Company will boast an annual output of 0.4 million liters of beer. At its full production, the company will have an annual sales volume of 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) with 300 million yuan for tax and profit.

Xi'an is the capital city of Shaanxi province, home to one of China's most popular tourist sites: the terracotta soldiers, created more than 2,000 years ago for the tomb of China's first emperor.

...more info

Japan & UK: Asahi Breweries to make Super Dry beer in Britain

Asahi Breweries Ltd. announced on Thursday, July 21, it will begin making Asahi Super Dry products in Britain in September by entrusting production to local brewer Shepherd Neame Ltd., according to Kyodo News statement. With the step, Asahi aims to expand sales of barreled beer in the home of pubs and boost overall sales of Super Dry products in Britain 2.4-fold by 2008, the Japanese beer brewer said.

Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer with a history of more than 300 years, will produce 30-liter barrels as well as 330- and 500-milliliter bottles for the British market, the biggest market in Europe for Asahi, it said.

Asahi Beer Europe Ltd., Asahi's wholly owned unit in London, will sell the Super Dry products made by Shepherd Neame. By using the British company's sales network, the Asahi unit will aim to boost the number of pubs selling Super Dry barreled beer to more than 800 in 2008, the company said.

In Europe, Asahi began production of Super Dry products in January 2000 through Staropramen Breweries AS of the Czech Republic. The Czech company has been making five Super Dry products for Asahi for sales in about 20 countries in Europe, including Britain, France and Russia.

USA: Miller Brewing maintains USA market share

SABMiller Plc's subsidiary, Miller Brewing, announced on July 20 it was able to maintain its share of the United States beer market over the American beer industry’s important 4th of July sales period despite raising prices by 1.2 % compared to last year, according to Reuters.

Miller's performance over the 4th of July, traditionally the busiest selling period for beer in the United States, stands in contrast to Memorial Day, when brewers kicked off the summer with sharp discounts to spur beer sales. Rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. continued this discounting during the most recent holiday.

"Price discounting is not an effective growth lever for the industry, unless you want to rent volume in the economy segment," Miller Brewing Chief Marketing Officer Tom Long said in a statement. Volume and share movement did not correlate with discounting. Miller Brewing Co.’s share of total beer sales remained flat versus the prior year, while increasing prices by 1.2%1.

In contrast, Anheuser-Busch lost 0.5 share points despite lowering prices versus the prior year by 0.5%1. An Anheuser spokesman declined to comment on its growth over the key holiday.Brands with established momentum continued to show strength. Miller Lite’s share grew 0.6 share points, while the import category grew by 0.9 share points1.

...more info

Czech Republic: Brewery Bernard produced 14% more beer in H1 2005

Rodinny pivovar Bernard produced more than 67,400 hl of beer in Jan-June, 14 % more on the year, and sales added 22 % to CZK 96.7 million, spokesman Zdenek Mikulasek told CTK news on July 21, according to Prague Daily Monitor. "We are successful at home and are expanding abroad," he said.

First-half exports accounted for a tenth of the output, targeting mainly Slovakia. Exports are slightly rising, said Mikulasek. Bernard is supplied to customers in Sweden, Spain, Russia, Britain and Denmark.

In June, the brewer's output was the highest since the early 1990s, also thanks to better weather, said Mikulasek. This year's investment in upgrading the technologies exceeded CZK 8 million.

Last year's output reached 127,700 hl of beer, 4 % more against a year earlier. Sales went up by 17 percent to CZK 176 million.

The brewer employs 89 people. It owns a malt house, Sladovna Bernard, in Rajhrad near Brno in southern Moravia, with annual malt production at 6,500 tonnes.

Malt News

Russia: 89,000 tonnes of malt imported in the first 4 months of 2005

Russia imported 89,000 tonnes of malt in January-April this year. Imports for the whole year may tumble to half of last year’s 555,000 tonnes.

Russia imported 555,000 metric tonnes of malt in 2004 compared to 513,000 metric tonnes in 2003 that is 8.2% increase. Only in the forth quarter of 2004 Russia imported 81,000 metric tonnes of malt.

Barley News

USA: Barley acreage this year is the lowest since 1890

The latest USDA forecast for 2005 barley production was estimated at 243 million bushels (5.29 million metric tonnes), which represents an increase of 18 million bushels (0.39 million metric tonnes) over the previous USDA production estimate but down by 36 million bushels (0.78 million metric tonnes) from the 2004 barley crop, Farm & Ranch Guide published on July 21.

The planted barley acres in the U.S. are down 557,000 acres from last year and the lowest since barley planted acreage estimates began in 1926. The Economic Research Service (ERS) of the USDA estimates that 3.5 million acres of barley will be harvested this year, down 14 % from last year and the lowest since 1890.

Barley yields, according to the ERS, are forecast at a record 70 bushels per acre (1.52 metric tonnes), which is up from last month's trend-based projection of 63.6 bushels.

The ERS also released barley usage projections for the marketing year, which increased by five million bushels from last month's estimate, but is off by 23 million bushels from the actual disappearance in the 2003/2004 marketing year. The projected increase is in the feed and residual area, but even that figure is down 11 million bushels from the 2004/2005 marketing year.

...more info

Hops News

Germany: Slight hops acreage decrease expected

First preliminary figures are now available for the German set-aside and clearing programme, Joh. Barth & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG, the agricultural company that processes and trades hops and hop products worldwide, announced at the beginning of July 2005.

German hops acreage is reported to be 93.6 ha (231 acres) aroma hops and 311.9 ha (770 acres) bitter and high alpha hops – mainly the variety Hallertauer Magnum. Apart from this programme, approx. 200 ha (494 acres) bitter hops are supposed to have been cleared. "We assume that the aroma hop acreage increased by approx. 370 ha (914 acres). Due to the change in the payment of EU subsidies to growers, the procedure of the acreage survey has been changed and delayed. Reliable statistics are expected by mid-July."

Acreage reduction in the bitter and high alpha segment is therefore -8.6%. The market 2005 clearly shows an end to oversupply, one indicator being the reduced stocks in the hands of the hop trade and the brewing industry which balanced the deficit from crop 2003.

Practically all aroma hops grown have been sold by pre-contract. All additional sales must therefore be made on the spot market. The varieties Hallertau Tradition, Spalt Select and Perle are especially scarce. Only an above-average crop would ease this tense situation. An average crop will ensure sufficient supply with German high alpha hops. However, no big surplus quantities are expected that used to burden the marketing of spot hops in the past years.