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 1-3000 mtons of malt, 2RS Scarlet, crop 2003, bulk, delivery 1/1/2004 - 31/3/2004, at EUR 268.00/mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1710P1619)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

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

• Ukraine: UkrInform reported that some 80 farms in Kharkiv Oblast decided to form a wheat seed production association where they will be registered as 1st reproduction seed producers ...more info



• The Latvian government is reported to be drawing up legislation that will ban alcohol advertising across all mass media, including print ...more info



• The Anheuser-Busch brand Budweiser has signed a sponsorship deal with the UK's premiership football club Everton that sees the brand become the "Official Beer" of the club ...more info




2. Brewery News

Germany, with a once formidable reputation as a land of proud beer drinkers, actually prefers mineral water to beer, German media has posted recently. The sorry outlook for beer in the nation that invented the beer garden and the Oktoberfest has been blamed on everything from a levy on bottles and price-gouging in bars to an ageing population with smaller bladders. Per-capita beer consumption last year was 121.5 litres, the national brewing federation says. CEO of leading German brewer Krombacher, Bernhard Schadeberg, predicted that full-year beer sales by the nation's 1,300 breweries would be about 4 % lower than last year. He said population decline and a general reluctance by consumers to spend in a slump mattered more than a refundable deposit charged since January 1 on tear-tab cans and plastic bottles. "Beer has been in decline for years, deposit or no deposit," he said. The market was however roiled by the start of deposits. Supermarket chains cleared old stocks at penny prices last December, and many happy drinkers bought cans in bulk, keeping enough beer in their homes to last until summer...more info

China's fourth-largest beer maker Harbin Brewery Group Ltd has announced recently that it is expecting its annual production to increase by 50% to 1.8 million tonnes in 2004 or 2005 on mounting domestic consumption, according to Reuters. Harbin Brewery’s CEO Peter Lo said the company was being boosted by the strong economic growth in its dominant market in northeastern China, which is being earmarked by the government for redevelopment. Lo said the company was confident it would meet its 2003 output target of 1.2 million tonnes. The target for 2004 is 1.5 million tonnes, with the hope of reaching 1.8 million tonnes in 2004 or 2005.

Ukrainian breweries, controlled by Scandinavian Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), increased beer sales in January-September 2003 by 8% versus the same period in 2002 up to 245 million litres, the company has posted recently. In September BBH Ukraine sold 24 million litres of beer, 1% more than in September 2002. In the first half the company increased beer sales in Ukraine by 14% versus January-June 2002 up to 150.96 million litres. Now BBH holds 20% of Ukrainian beer market. Holding BBH was created in 1991 to activate on the beer market of CIS countries with the same quotas of Finish brewing group Hartwall PLC and Swedish-Norwegian company Pripps-Ringnes. Now Carlsberg Breweries A/S controls the quota of Pripps-Ringnes. BBH controls about 15 brewing companies in CIS countries and Baltic States. In Ukraine it holds Lvov Brewery (99.18%), Slavutich Brewery (81%) and Slavutsk Malting Plant (86%). In 2002 BBH increased beer sales in Ukraine by 27% versus 2001 year up to 280 million litres.

The CEO of the Denmark's second largest brewer Bryggerigruppen's has denied that the company is close to being sold. Speaking in an interview with Dow Jones, Poul Moeller said: "We're not out actively selling the company. There is nothing concrete in this, and if a takeover offer should come, it would be a surprise," he added.

3. Malt News

Russian malting plant Solod based in south Sakhalin has launched the second malt production line, Russian Beer Union reported on October 15. The new launch will increase considerably the production capacity of the plant. Now the plant outputs about 5 thousand tonnes of malt and supplies with malt all Far East brewers. The line launching was possible due to the financial help of the FinEko Corporation’s president, Oleg Martinov. Sakhalin malt is very popular with Far East brewers.

The construction of malting plant at Idaho Falls by Grupo Modelo has raised social conflicts among local laborers, which are upset because they think their jobs are going to migrant workers. “If you remember, that large Grupo Modelo plant being built south of town was supposed to bring jobs to Idaho. But the labor workers' union here says the mexico-based company is bringing workers from south-of-the-border to build the facility,” said local press on October 8.

4. Barley News

UK barley production is estimated at 6.61M tonnes, with spring barley yields particularly high, HGCA reported on October 13. Total barley plantings in the UK are fractionally down in 2003 at 1.094M ha. In 2003, UK barley plantings shifted away from winter sown crops in favour of a greater spring sown area.Winter plantings in 2003 reached 0.47M ha, down 15 percent, while the planted spring area was 0.63M ha in 2003, up 13 percent. The switch in plantings possibly reflect the improvement in malting barley premiums through last season, and the reduced winter grain plantings due to wet weather. Unlike the wheat crop which saw lower yields, barley yields rose in 2003.The UK total barley yield reached 6t/ha, up 9 percent on 2002 even with a bigger share of spring crops. Of this, winter barley was 6.4t/ha (up 2 percent) and spring barley 5.8t/ha (up 19 percent). The total UK barley crop reached 6.61M tonnes, up 8 percent on 2002, as a result. However, the winter crop actually fell in 2003 to 2.98M tonnes, (a fall of 13 percent), while the spring crop accounted for 3.63M tonnes, a rise of 35 percent on 2002.The much larger spring crop is particularly due to the significantly higher yields, which are the highest average yields ever recorded for the UK...more info

In August 2003 Ukraine exported 83,000 tonnes of barley, which is 54 % up from the export in July, but 4.8 times down from the amount, exported in August 2002. Nearly all the export in August (as in July too) went to Middle East countries: Saudi Arabia (71,100 tonnes), United Arab Emirates (7,500 tonnes) and Kuwait (4,800 tonnes). Import of barley to Ukraine in August was 1,200 tonnes, which is 83 % less than in July this year and 66 percent less than in August 2002. The whole import came from Russia. According to AgriMarket.Info estimate, import of barley in September must have been quite unsubstantial - not more than 1,000 tonnes.