Top Industry News 

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• Moldova, Chisinau: Negotiations regarding building a new brewing plant in Chisinau are coming to the end. The new plant is to output the famous Czech beer Budweiser ...more info



• Brazilian beverage company, Ambev, the world's No. 5 brewer, said on November 12 that it expected its domestic beer sales volumes to drop again this year ...more info



• The Russian drinks industry is facing some interesting long- and short-term dilemmas. News earlier this month that Russian oil magnate and multi-millionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky had been arrested ...more info



• USA, Great Falls: Local and state officials spent two years courting the owners of a huge barley-malting plant being built north east of Great Falls ...more info



• Moody's confirmed the A1/Prime-1 ratings of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. and changed the rating outlook to stable from positive ...more info



• Ukraine produced about 13.66 million hl of beer in January-September this year, 12% or with 1.47 million hl more than in January-September last year ...more info



• China: Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Co Ltd signed a co-operative contract with Guangzhou Heavy Industrial Group and Guangzhou Light Industrial and Machinery Group ...more info



• Algeria's national assembly banned on November 11 the import of alcoholic beverages starting in January, prompting a warning from the finance minister that the country could face reprisals ...more info

2. Brewery News

Shipments of popular Japanese low-malt beer, which is cheaper than ordinary lager, is set to shrink this year for the first time since sales of the product began in 1994, industry leader Kirin Brewery said on November 11, according to BusinessReport. Sales of low-malt beer have been laid low by an unusually cool, wet summer, coupled with a recent tax hike on the product, called 'happoshu' (sparkling beverage), said Kirin spokeswoman Satoko Yoshida. Combined shipments of happoshu by Japan's top five brewers are expected to shrink by 1.5 % this year to 2.54 million kiloliters, marking the first contraction of the happoshu market, she said. "The past summer was extremely cool and that depressed beer sales and happoshu sales in general," Yoshida said. "With the higher tax, happoshu's main appeal as an inexpensive beverage lessened," she said. Happoshu looks, smells and tastes like lager beer and even has the same alcohol content but because it has malt content lower than 67 % or contains ingredients other than malt, hops, rice, corn, potatoes and sugar, it is not classified as beer by the finance ministry. The government in May raised the tax on happoshu by about 10 yen (about R0,63) per 350-milliliter can, pushing up the retail price to 145 yen, still some 100 yen cheaper than regular canned beer. Even after the tax rise, however, the lowest tax rate on happoshu is 134 250 yen per kiloliter, far below 222 000 yen imposed on regular beer. Happoshu accounts for about 40 % of the overall Japanese 'beer' market. "We will launch various campaigns toward the end of the year to stimulate the market," Yoshida said, declining to disclose the planned campaigns.

USA: Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co. has failed in its bid to terminate its brewing contract with The Boston Beer Co., brewer of the Samuel Adams beer brands, Business Journal of Milwaukee reported. Miller was seeking an arbitrator's declaration that it had the right to cancel its agreement with the Boston-based brewer as of May 30, 2004. Miller filed its petition with the American Arbitration Association, East Providence, R.I., during the fourth quarter of 2002. An arbitrator ruled Oct. 29 that Miller didn't have early termination rights and ordered Miller to continue producing products for Boston Beer under the terms of the existing agreement. Miller also was ordered to reimburse Boston Beer $785,000 for its legal fees and expenses related to the arbitration proceedings. Miller had brewed Samuel Adams products for Boston Beer at its now-shuttered Tumwater, Wash., brewery, as well as at a Miller brewery in Eden, N.C. Miller closed the Tumwater facility in July. Samuel Adams beer brands that had been produced at the Tumwater plant now are being brewed at Miller's North Carolina plant. The Tumwater plant had provided Boston Beer easier access to West Coast distributors, Boston Beer spokeswoman Michelle Sullivan said. "It's certainly become a bigger challenge" to get Samuel Adams products to the West Coast, she said. After the Tumwater plant closed, Miller agreed to cover the incremental costs associated with shipping Boston Beer products to areas previously supplied by the Tumwater brewery, Sullivan said. Boston Brewery executives expect that arrangement to continue, she said...more info

China Guangzhou-based Zhujiang Brewery, whose Zhujiang beer is among China's top three name brands after Tsingtao and Yanjing, will build Asia's largest brewery in Guangdong by 2005, according to chairman and general manager Yang Rongming, the Chinese newspaper The Standard reported on November 14. Annual beer production of the new plant will be 1.5 million tonnes. To reach this target, the company will invest 150 million yuan (HK$140.76 million) between now and March to increase production by 200,000 tonnes, Yang said. The company hoped to expand annual production to 5 million tonnes by 2010 to become one of the top 10 brewers in the world, Yang said. Over the past 10 months, production and sales rose by 20 % , Yang said, adding that the company would launch an initial public offering (IPO) on the mainland next year. The company would then tap the overseas market with Hong Kong as its first choice. Zhujiang is the last of the three name brand breweries to go for public listing. Tsingtao brewery is listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, while Yanjing is listed in Shenzhen. Zhujiang Brewery was established as a joint stock company in December - the first step to an IPO. It has registered capital of 436.36 million yuan and total assets of 1,956.18 million yuan. Belgian beer maker Interbrew, the world's third-largest brewer by volume, has a 24 % stake in the Guangzhou-based brewer. Yang said the company was also considering setting up breweries in Asian countries...more info

Slovakia's third largest brewery, Topvar Topolcany, showed a SKK 115 mln profit in January September 2003, triple its profit during the same period last year, Interfax reported on November 5. Revenues from beer sales rose by SKK 72 mln to SKK 618 mln in 9M,while sales of soft drinks were worth SKK 53 mln. Topvar sold 545,700 hectoliters of beer in Jan-Sept, up by 10,000 hl year-on-year. Exports grew by nearly 6,000 hl to 20,000 hl, accounting for 3.5 % of sales. Roughly 40 % of exports went to the Czech Republic. Other foreign customers included Hungary, Canada, Yugoslavia, Germany, and Poland. Topvar employs 450 workers and is the only brewery in the country entirely in Slovak hands. The company expects to sell 670,000 hectoliters of beer this year. Sales should top SKK 740 mln. Slovakia is home to 11 large and eight small breweries.

3. Malt News

Russian brewing force, AO Baltika Brewery, will launch its own malting plant in Tula in summer 2004, Russian press reported on November 14. According to the company’s speaker about 70% of the construction works are already finished. The cost of the malting plant is evaluated at US$ 32 million. It will have a production capacity of 105,000 tonnes of malt per year. The company said the new plant will be able to supply with malt the brewing plant of Baltika in Tula, the rest will be delivered to the other Baltika’s breweries.

4. Barley News

EU Barley Markets: The total barley export surplus in EU is estimated by IGC at 4 million tonnes (imports 0.5 million tonnes). 970,000 tonnes of export certificates have been booked so far, mostly early in the grain year. Bookings in October were less than 9,000 tonnes. EU feed barley is quoted US $ 158,- FOB seaport and is hopelessly uncompetitive against other origins. If the present market trend continues, feed and malting barley exports will end up well below the earlier estimates.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann has lobbied officials from China's biggest brewery to take more of the state's barley, Australian media reported on November 6. Mr Rann, who has been touring South Korea and China last week, said he would press SA's clean, green image when he met chiefs from the Qingdao Brewery. "My message to brewery management is that South Australia is a keen supplier of the clean, green product that will help them make the best tasting beer possible," the premier said in a statement. "We want to nurture our export opportunities and continue to grow with the brewer's demands." Last year South Australia's barley exports to Qingdao fell by 60,000 tonnes because of the drought, costing local producers about $9 million. However, Mr Rann said this year local barley growers were expecting a record crop.