Baltika, Russia's leading brewery, announced on February 3 its special warmed railway carriages and warehouses would help it to achieve healthy annual sales despite a spell of deep cold this winter, according to Reuters.

Baltika, jointly owned by Scottish & Newcastle and Carlsberg, said in a statement that a fall in temperatures by 1 degree below an average monthly norm typically results in a fall in beer sales by 1 percent. This is because cold weather leads to lower consumption, a cut in the time that outlets work or their closure due to power cuts, as well as disruptions to transport.

Russia has been suffering from a strong cold spell for weeks with temperatures in some regions reaching record lows. But Baltika said that its fleet of railway carriages and warehouses maintained warmth regardless of the weather.

"On top of that, a positive sales trend which the company showed last year ... allows us to hope that a fall in sales in the period of strong frosts will be compensated by active promotion of goods during the rest of the year," the statement said.

East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL) has registered a 307 million shillings pre tax profit for the six months ending December 2005, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation communicated on February 3. This reflects a marginal increase of 7 per-cent compared to a 23 percent increase in a similar period in 2004.

The group registered a 4.6 billion shillings in growth compared to 4.3 billion growth in a similar period in the previous year. The group’s Managing Director Gerald Mahinda and its Commercial Director Chris released the groups results at an investors briefing, Friday, 03 February 2006.
Mahinda said stringent cost controls and partnership with the Tanzanian and Ugandan breweries boosted profits.

Free cash flow however reduced from 7.5 to 6.5 billion shillings, an element attributed to high operation costs. He said their highest sales were recorded in December last year, adding that the alcobrew measure instituted by traffic police did not impact on their profits. The group has declared a 1.75 shillings interim dividend.

Northwest hop growers celebrated 50 years of collaboration beginning on January 25 with the theme "Golden Hop Celebration" and a look forward, discussing technology that will make the industry more efficient in the face of rising costs, Yakima Herald-Republic communicated on January 25.

About 150 growers attended the three-day golden anniversary affair at the Yakima Convention Center, said Steve George, administrator of the Hop Growers of Washington.

This year's convention is larger, he said, because hop growers from Washington, Oregon and Idaho met jointly, something they do every few years. Yakima is a logical meeting site because the Yakima Valley produces 75 % of the nation's hops, and is second only to Germany in worldwide production. Yakima is also the headquarters for the Hop Growers of Washington, the Hop Growers of America and the Washington Hop Commission.

On January 25 general session got under way at 9 a.m. in the south ballroom with a review of new technology, including a mechanical harvester called the "Perrault Harvester," an automated twining system, a growing system that utilizes lower trellises, and a hop vine-composting project. Thursday's meeting featured a report by the Washington State Department of Agriculture on a surface water monitoring project.