1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there are two OFFERS for 3500 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1-1500 mtons of malt, 6RW Esterel, crop 2003, Bulk in container, delivery 1/1/2004 - 30/3/2004, at EUR 264.50/mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF2208P1026)
  
  
• Offer for 1-2000 mtons of malt, 2RS Scarlet / Astoria, crop 2003, Bulk in container, delivery 1/11/2003 - 31/1/2004, at EUR 269.50/mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1908P1120)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

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

• After a blip mid-week, the weather looks set fair for the next few days allowing the harvest to proceed at a pace that few can remember across Scotland ...more info



• U.S.A., Montana. Malting barley has been particularly hard hit, with some fields being harvested for feed. In the week that ended last Sunday, 75 % of Montana topsoils were rated “very short” ...more info



• UK brewer Scottish and Newcastle plans to whittle down bidders in the 2.3 billion pound ($3.64 billion) sale of its pubs business after a bid deadline on Friday ...more info



• China: Good news for Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller and Interbrew as they gun for the world's fastest-growing beer market, sinking hundreds of millions of dollars to chase demand climbing at 6% annually ...more info



• Brau & Brunnen AG, Germany's fourth largest brewer, in which the German banking group, HVB, owns a majority stake, said it intends to buy back 10% of its capital by the end of December 2004 ...more info



• Harboes Bryggeri A/S, the Denmark’s brewer, has reported an operating profit for the first quarter of the 2003/2004 fiscal year of DKr37.5m, up by 57.6% ...more info



• HVB Group AG, the German bank, is still planning to sell its 55.6% stake in Brau & Brunnen AG, Germany's fourth largest brewer, early next year ...more info



• Brussels. The Brewers of Europe are going to move to their new offices as of 21 August 2003. The NEW Brewers of Europe House will bring together the cultures of the 17 members of the European Brewers ...more info




2. Brewery News

Bulgarian Company, Brewinvest, a joint venture between Greece's Hellenic Bottling Company and Dutch brewing group Heineken NV, which controls Bulgaria's Ariana and Zagorka breweries, registered the largest share on the domestic beer market in the first half of the year and topped the list of sales with 63.7 million litres. It was followed by the Bulgarian brands of Belgian beer company Interbrew - Kamenitza, Astika, Burgasko Pivo and Plevensko Pivo, with 52.4 million litres beer sales. Beer sales were 172.8 million litres in the first six months of the year, a figure that does not include the sales of the Ledenika and Varnensko Pivo breweries, which have not yet submitted sales reports. The two are owned by Bulbrew, the only fully Bulgarian-owned brewer on the domestic market. Preliminary forecasts are that beer sales in Bulgaria are to climb further this summer after sales recorded a 6% increase in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, SofiaEcho.com reported in a statement...more info

Japan's top beer maker, Asahi Breweries Ltd, said on August 21 its major shareholders would sell up to 12.5 million shares, or 2.4 % of its outstanding stock, to boost its shares' liquidity, Reuters reported. The price will be decided between September 5 and 10. Shares in Asahi closed at 730 yen on Thursday, up four yen. Among the sellers, the brewery's second-biggest shareholder, Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Co, will sell five million existing shares, reducing its stake to 3.5 % from the current 4.4 %. Chemical maker Asahi Kasei Corp, the fourth-biggest shareholder, will sell 3.5 million shares. "The share sale is aimed at boosting the stock's liquidity and raising the number of individual investors," the company said in a statement. In addition to the sale of 11.5 million existing shares planned by its major shareholders, underwriter Nomura Securities may sell up to one million shares depending on market conditions in over-allotment option, Asahi said.

China: CBR Brewing Company, the Asian brewer, has posted a net loss in the first half of the year of US$23.8m, compared to US$15.9m for the same period last year. Net sales in the period registered US$22.3m, versus net sales of $40.2m for the first half of 2002. The company attributed the decline in part due to the SARS outbreak. “Included in net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2003 was a charge of US$7.8m for the impairment of property, plant and equipment, as compared to a charge of US$9.8m for the impairment of property, plant and equipment for the six months ended June 30, 2002,” said the company. "The decrease in sales volume in both dollars and tonnage…was mainly attributable to the following factors: a decrease in the volume of beer sold, which the company attributes to the reorganization of the company's marketing teams and marketing strategies; the reduction in sales branch offices; the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome ("SARS") in China...more info

MOSCOW, 21 August, 2003 - SUN Interbrew Limited a leading brewer in Russia and Ukraine, announced the appointment of Mr. Luc Vanheel as Chief Financial Officer, effective 1 September, 2003. Mr. Luc Vanheel is Belgian. Before this appointment, he held the position of Finance and Administration Director of the Croatian brewing company, Zagrebacka Pivovara, a subsidiary of Interbrew. Mr. Luc Vanheel will replace Mr. Alan Hibbert who has been Chief Financial Officer of SUN Interbrew Limited since autumn 2000 and who recently decided to pursue an entrepreneurial career. Mr. Alan Hibbert leaves behind a very strong financial function that has had many achievements in the last 3 years. He has made considerable contributions in the areas of management reporting, investor relations and tax restructuring. Joseph W. Strella, Chief Executive Officer of SUN Interbrew, said, “We would like to thank Alan for the immense contributions he has made. We are looking forward to working with Luc bringing his experience into the business”...more info

3. Malt News

A good quantity of EU malt was delivered to the Philippines during July, analysts reported. However all details were not revealed. A small lot of EU 2RS malt was delivered to Thailand. Meanwhile Taiwan announced a new purchase tender for 21 thousand tonnes of malt for shipment 2002/2003.

4. Barley News

U.S.A., Northwest North Dakota: The temperatures here have in the 90s and 100s, according to Agweb report from August 17. Some crops look great while others are drying up. The difference in rain within a 10 mile area is a big factor. Barley in most cases is to high in protein to make malting although some has been very good malting.

The Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture has estimated the harvest for barley in 2003. The figure is 0.825 million tonnes of barley versus 1.1 million tonnes in 2002.

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