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Newsletter Summary
Currency rates
Equities of largest breweries
Market prices change trend
Top industry news
Brewery news
Malt news
Barley news
Hops news
More news
Malting barley prices
Table of the week
Graph of the week
Agenda
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Average market prices Change trend
08 Dec - 09 Dec 2005
Crop 2005
2rs Barley €116.50-118.50 0.85%
6rw Barley €103.50-105.50 0.95%

Note: Just click on the price link and you will be led to our Market Price History. Average barley market prices are French and are estimated on FOB Creil basis.
The changes are compared to last Newsletter's prices. Arrows indicate the direction of the change.

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Dear E-malt Reader!

E-malt.com Newsletters Archive could be found directly on e-malt.com site. Browsing through our Newsletters' Archive you may see all the issues you have missed. To this purpose you just have to login e-malt.com and click on Newsletters link in the menu. Reading our Newsletters you will be kept informed with the latest news and events regarding malting and beer world. You may also submit your own news, events or other information to the address info@e-malt.com!

Updated figures related to USA barley and malt trade with Mexico and Canada could be seen in NAFTA section of e-malt.com menu. To this purpose please enter e-malt.com!

You may find updated malt, barley and beer statistics on e-malt.com Statistics section. Just enter e-malt.com! Here you will find all tables issued with e-malt.com newsletters.

E-malt.com Agenda gives the possibility to keep you informed about the Events planned to be held in the whole world related to the brewing and malting industries. To this purpose you just have to login e-malt.com and click on Agenda link in the menu. Reading our Event Agenda you will find out about the future symposia, conferences and festivals related to malting and beer world. You may also submit your own events to the address info@e-malt.com

E-malt.com has Trading Online system. The system is to be used for malt/barley trading. One can register a malt/barley offer or a malt/barley request. The registering person could be as a seller/buyer or as an agent for seller/buyer. The User can see information about all active malt/barley offers & requests. If needed the system allows user to buy/sell malt/barley due to reasonable offers/requests. The way to do this is to confirm reasonable transaction. Trading Online rules are available through the Internet in the Trading Online as well as Tutorial (useful for persons who starts the system usage). To visit the E-malt Trading Online first go to the E-malt.com site, then click Trading Online link in the left menu of the e-malt.com home page. For more details please contact info@e-malt.com

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Last five newsletters
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Newsletter 49a, 2005
See this Newsletter!
Newsletter 48b, 2005
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Newsletter 48a, 2005
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Newsletter 47b, 2005
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Newsletter 47a, 2005

Market price evolutions

The evolution of market prices for barley and malt, which are periodically issued with e-malt.com newsletters are published on e-malt.com site in Market Prices section. Just click here!

Available market price evolutions
E-malt.com graphs
All graphs issued with e-malt.com newsletters are published in "Graph" section of e-malt.com site.
Last five graphs

The graphs are updated from time to time. Just see the updates online on e-malt.com site !

All e-malt.com tables are published in e-malt.com Statistics section. The Statistics section includes Barley statistics, Malt statistics and Beer statistics. The tables related to barley are published in Barley Statistics section, the tables related to malt in Malt Statistics section and the tables related to beer in Beer Statistics section.

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E-malt.com Newsletter 49b
December 08 - December 09, 2005
Quote of the week

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
Albert Schweitzer

Currency Rates
Base Currency: Euro, EUR
on 09-December-2005

1 EUR = 1.1755 USD
1 EUR = 0.6769 GBP
1 EUR = 1.3625 CAD
1 EUR = 1.5692 AUD
1 EUR = 142.14 JPY
1 EUR = 2.5964 BRL
1 EUR = 34.043 RUB
1 EUR = 9.499 CNY
 Base Currency: US Dollar
on 09-December-2005

1 USD = 0.8508 EUR
1 USD = 0.5759 GBP
1 USD = 1.159 CAD
1 USD = 1.3348 AUD
1 USD = 120.928 JPY
1 USD = 2.2087 BRL
1 USD = 28.9597 RUB
1 USD = 8.0806 CNY

EUR/USD Chart

Equities of the Largest Breweries

Top Industry News
China: InBev has won the bid for one of China’s largest brewers, Fujian Sedrin Brewery... Click here

Australia: Slap in the face to Lion Nathan in unanimous Coopers’ vote... Click here

Japan: Liberal Democratic Party plans including beer-like drinks in the same tax category as beer... Click here

World: Positive tendencies of beer sales for January-September 2005... Click here

Latvia: Latvia increased its imports of beer by 103% in the first 6 months of 2005... Click here

EU: Malt export licence bookings decreased by 18% for Jul-Nov 2005... Click here

Australia: 3 million tonnes of the barley crop will be of malting quality, analysts estimated... Click here

USA: Malting & feed barley varieties register rise in their prices... Click here

Slovenia: Hops Industry: history and nowadays... Click here

More News
Belgium: Duvel Moortgat is to build a 900,000 hl brewery in Belgium ...More Info

Mercosur: Mercosur countries will have an even S/D balance of malting barley ...More Info

Australia: Demystifying WA’s ‘price advantage’ for graingrowers ...More Info

India: Kingfisher to label beer bootless with anti-AIDS message ...More Info

Australia: Coopers accuses Lion Nathan of intimidation in takeover bid ...More Info

Ukraine: Sarmat brewery registers rise in its beer production and sales ...More Info

Russia: Cargill Acquires Grain Elevator in Voronezh, Russia ...More Info

Australia: South Australian barley crop above average ...More Info

Australia: Lion Nathan asks from Coopers considering independent expert's view on Lion's $310 per share offer ...More Info

USA: Cargill limited president retires ...More Info

Ghana: Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited to be to hold Annual General Meeting after court throws out suit ...More Info

Japan: Kirin Brewery to get a better rating ...More Info

China: New head of Heineken confirms Heineken’s joint-venture is looking at Fujian Sedrin brewery ...More Info

UK: Overview of 2005 for SABMiller brewery ...More Info

Belgium: Analysts about InBev’s plans to close Hoegaarden brewery ...More Info

USA: Barley markets still last week, malting barley continues being in good demand ...More Info

India: Indian beer market is growing at a rate of 7.5% per annum ...More Info

USA: Pittsburgh Brewing has filled for bankruptcy ...More Info

USA: Farm prices to have improved slightly in November 2005 ...More Info

UK: Laurence Danon to join the Diageo Board ...More Info

USA: Cargill Limited appoints new president ...More Info

Australia: Tasmanian businesswoman to invent paper from beer ...More Info



Brewery News
China: InBev has won the bid for one of China’s largest brewers, Fujian Sedrin Brewery

The beer giant InBev has won a bidding war with some of its global rivals and is set to pay about $750 million to acquire one of China's largest beer producers, Fujian Sedrin Brewery, according to people close to the deal, The International Herald Tribune, New York Times and Reuters reported on December 8. This deal would be one of the largest acquisitions ever for a foreign company operating in China.

InBev Chief Executive John Brock later declined to confirm the report to Reuters, but he described the brewery as strategically important.

ING analyst Gerard Rijk said InBev appeared to be more eager to expand in China than Heineken, which was not ready to acquire for the sake of acquiring. "It is very difficult to get good profitability there," he said. "InBev probably just wants to be ahead of the competition."

This would represent the latest push into China by the world's biggest beer producers, which were aggressively competing to buy assets and win stakes in China's fragmented and undeveloped, yet fast-growing, beer market. The deal should be approved by the government but many people believe InBev is the preferred bidder.

People close to the deal said InBev recently outbid its rivals, ...More Info

Australia: Slap in the face to Lion Nathan in unanimous Coopers’ vote

Coopers shareholders have sent a strong message to Lion Nathan with a unanimous vote in favour of a share buyback scheme at an Extraordinary General Meeting in Adelaide on December 7 , Coopers announced the same day

More than 95% of the shares eligible to vote participated in today’s meeting.
Shareholders voted 1,187,210 to nil in favour of amending the constitution to clarify that the shares purchased under the buyback did not have to go through the pre-emptive rights schedule.

A second vote to approve the buyback went 1,186,210 to nil.
Under the approved buyback, up to 15% of Coopers shares will be purchased at $260 this financial year with further annual buybacks of between 2.5% and 5% over the next five years.

Coopers Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, said the result was very pleasing.

“Our shareholders have shown overwhelming support for the capital management program proposed by Directors,” he said.
“It provides shareholders with liquidity options for their shares while maintaining an appropriate capital structure and gearing level for the Company.”

Shareholders have been given until January 13, 2006 to decide whether to take part in the buyback.

Dr Cooper said Coopers shareholders were looking forward to next week’s EGM, ...More Info

Japan: Liberal Democratic Party plans including beer-like drinks in the same tax category as beer

The Japanese Liberal Democratic Party's tax panel plans to cut the number of liquor tax categories to four from the current 10, putting beer-like alcoholic beverages in the same category as beer, LDP lawmakers said on December 9 according to Kyodo report.

The LDP Research Commission on the Tax System hopes the planned regrouping of liquor tax rates will help narrow tax-rate differences between alcoholic beverages, each of which carry different tax rates based on their raw materials and method of production. The plan is aimed at simplifying Japan's liquor tax structure and represents part of the ruling coalition's tax reform proposals for fiscal 2006, said the lawmakers specializing in tax affairs.

By taking advantage of these different liquor tax rates, brewers have released beer-like beverages at low prices. The tax rate of so-called third-category beer is 69 yen per liter, compared with 222 yen for beer.

Even though the LDP panel plans to put these alcohol products into the same category, tax rate differentials will remain for some time, according to the lawmakers. But the panel is considering applying higher tax rates on newly introduced third-category beer products as part of efforts to narrow tax rate differentials ...More Info

World: Positive tendencies of beer sales for January-September 2005

Most beer sales news was positive lately. Country statistics for January/September 2005:

Poland + 6.3 %, Czech Republic + 2.5 %, Finland + 3.5 %. Germany October + 1.9 %, January/October – 0,2 %. Company news: Inbev January/September + 6.8 %, SABMiller April/September + 10.5 %, of which organic + 5.6 %.

Modelo July/ September domestic + 2.1 %, export + 15 %. Femsa same period domestic + 5.5 % export + 18.7 %. Negative were U.S. domestic sales January/August 143.85 million hl versus 146.0 last year.

Latvia: Latvia increased its imports of beer by 103% in the first 6 months of 2005

In the first half 2005, the amount of imported beer has grown by 103 % y-o-y, according to State Revenue Service. Imported beers are now taking 15 % of the beer market in Latvia.

“As long as imported beers take 5 to 10 % of the market there is no problem, but when it grows to 15 % it is bad news for the domestic industry,” stated Ivars Grislis, advisor of the Latvian Brewers’ Union.

“Of course, beer imports affect the market, but I do not see any reason to worry about it,” said Henrijs Fogels, president of brewery Aldaris. According to Fogelis, beer is a local product. “Imported beer will keep its market share as an exotic choice, and in the low price segment.”

The Russias Baltika Brewery during the first nine months of 2005 has increased sales in Latvia by 235 % y-o-y said Irena Drozdova from Baltika, with 34,2 % of beer imports into Latvia. Next year Baltika is planning to increase exports to Latvia by 20 % on top.

“In the eleven months of 2005 our sales of Heineken beer have doubled, but in total this beer makes up a small amount of our sales,” explained Sietinsone. ...More Info

Malt News
EU: Malt export licence bookings decreased by 18% for Jul-Nov 2005

EU malt export licence bookings from July 1 – November 29 were 855,000 tonnes, 190,000 tonnes or 18 % less than a year ago.

If converted into a theoretical figure for the crop year, exports would come to 2.05 million tonnes, still a steep drop from the 2.22 million tonnes in 2004/05. However, the pace of exports has improved somewhat since the July-October figure.

Barley News
Australia: 3 million tonnes of the barley crop will be of malting quality, analysts estimated

After a late start good rainfalls and mild spring temperatures provided an optimal finish to the barley cropping season.

Analyst’s estimates range from 8.0 to 9.0 million tonnes. After a few rainy days in late November weather turned fine again, and the harvest progresses well. Quality and condition of malting barley is good.

Private estimates are that 3 million tonnes of the barley crop will be of malting quality, which leaves an export surplus of 2 million tonnes, 1.5 million tonnes for China, 0.5 million tonnes for Japan/Korea/Taiwan.

Price levels CIF China are in the high 180’s (US $) but buyers expect lower levels. The deregulation of the Eastern Australian markets and the special licencing system of Western Australia has created more competition amongst Australian shippers.

USA: Malting & feed barley varieties register rise in their prices

Even though barley prices have increased a bit in the last two weeks, the overall average price for this marketing year has been low enough to see farmers collecting loan deficiency payments on over half of the 2005 barley crop, according to the Farm & Ranch report of December 8.

Barley producers have collected $26 million in LDPs covering about 55 percent of the crop as of November 9, 2005, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). The average payment rate for the 2005 LDPs has been 22 cents a bushel. As a comparison, in 2004, 82 percent of the crop eventually received an LDP payment. The average rate last year was 35 cents a bushel, with $80 million being paid out.

With the barley harvest completed in the U.S.A , the latest crop report did not indicate any change in the nation's barley harvest, however revised harvest reports from the EU-25 indicated higher yields than earlier expected, boosting the total crop by 0.5 million tons to 53.0 million tons. To somewhat balance this out, barley production in China is expected to decline by 0.3 million tons from the previous estimate to 2.8 million tons.

In looking at the ...More Info

Hops News
Slovenia: Hops Industry: history and nowadays

Hops have been cultivated in Slovenia for centuries. It is known that in 1156 hops were grown on the land of Bishop Nititabanorum de Lonca near Skofja Loka, according to Slovenian Hop Industry Association. The real beginning of hops growing in Slovenia and the Savinja valley was in 1870. At that time the most suitable variety for growing was a variety called Wuertenberg. 1886 is an important year for our (South Styrian) hops growing industry, namely that was the year when the growers Mr. Haupt and Mr. Hausenbiechler made their first experiments with the variety ‘Golding’. Trial crops were successful and hop growing spread its roots in the Savinja valley. The conditions in the valley were excellent for ‘Golding’ and the quality of crops could be compared to with that of all world producers. It was therefore not difficult to find a market for the crops. ‘Golding’ took the place of the Wuertenberg variety, which was later on - in 1928 - completely destroyed due to a downy mildew.

Nowadays, leading hops growing areas in Slovenia are the Savinja valley (Zalec), the Drava valley (Radlje), and the Sava valley (Brezice).

Hops produced in the Savinja valley are well known all over ...More Info


Malting barley prices. French barley prices.
Nominal prices.

EURO = USD 1.1755 December 09, 2005 
 Crop year   2005 
 Parity   FOB Creil 
 Position   July 2005 
Type   Variety  EURO  USD 
2RS  Scarlett  119.00  140.00 
2RS  Prestige  118.00  139.00 
2RS  Cellar  118.00  139.00 
2RS  Aspen  nq  nq 
2RS  Optic  nq  nq 
2RS  Sebastien  116.50  137.00 
2RS  Astoria  116.00  136.50 
2RS  Cork   115.50  136.00 
6RW  Esterel   104.50  123.00 
Table of the week

Australian Barley Supply and Disposal 2001-2006

in thousand tonnes 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 s 2005-2006 f
Production 8 280 3 865 10 382 6 454 8 430
   Domestic use 2 535 1 986 2 429 2 644 2 649
   as malt and other human use 161 165 168 172 176
   feed 2 200 1 650 2 100 2 300 2 300
   seed 174 171 161 172 173
 Exports  5 274 2 608 6 996 4 819 5 821
   as malting barley 1 705 1 099 2 135 1 409 1 832
   malt (grain equivalent) 600 624 624 612 630
   feed barley 2 971 885 4 241 2 799 3 359
s - ABARE estimated, f-ABARE forecast, source - ABARE November, 2005 Graph of the week


Agenda
December 2005:
December Holidaze Beer Tasting.
Kerstbierfestival (11th Christmas Beer Festival). O.B.E.R.

January 2006:
Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Festival
Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival.
The Great Alaska Beer
St. Paul Winterfest.

February 2006:
Pianeta Birra - Beverage & Co.
Sarasota Rhythm & Brews
Florida's best beer festival offering more


More events are available on site e-malt.com
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