Czech state-owned brewery Budejovicky Budvar said May 30 it could sell its beer under the Budejovicky Budvar trademark in Spain, owing to last week's verdict from the Spanish Supreme Court, CTK informed May 30.

"Although Spain is a small market for us for the time being... we expect the final decision of the Supreme Court to give our business activities a boost," said Budvar spokesman Petr Samec.

The verdict does not concern the Budweiser trademark, over which Budvar and US giant Anheuser-Busch have been leading disputes all over the world, Budvar told CTK.

Anheuser-Busch has the right to use the Budweiser trademark in Spain. Its officials were not immediately available for comment.

Samec said the verdict had given Budvar a definitive legal certainty which reduces risks linked to investment in marketing and brand support.

Budvar exports more than 4,000 hectolitres of lager to Spain every year. Last year, it raised exports to the country by 4 percent year-on-year.

Budvar exports beer to 50 countries and has more than 380 trademarks registered in over 100 countries of the world.

Anheuser-Busch and Budvar have been fighting for the Budweiser trademark and other trademarks since 1906. They are embroiled in about 40 trademark disputes worldwide.

Beer sales in South Korea showed a big drop in the first four months of the year, owing to a change in consumer lifestyles and the nation's prolonged economic slump, Asia Pulse said May 28.

A total of 55.74 million boxes of beer were sold in the January-April period, down 7.27 percent from a year earlier. Each box contains 20 500-milliliter bottles.

Beer sales had increased continuously since 2000, when the sales increased 11.29 percent from the year prior. The sales gained 8.04 percent and 2.42 percent, respectively, in 2001 and 2002, according to the Korea Alcohol & Liquor Industry Association.

However, a downturn began in 2003, when sales decreased 3.66 percent. Last year, sales dropped 4.26 percent, according to the association.

"The reason behind the decrease is that more people are consuming less alcohol due to health reasons, along with economic stagnation and social polarization," the industry source said.

"Also, with the implementation of a five-day workweek, the trend has turned toward consuming less alcohol," the source added.

Amid the decrease, industry leader Hite Co. reported a 62.27 percent market share in the reported period, its first market share over 60 percent since its founding in 1993.

Baltika, the Russian joint venture brewery business majority-owned by Scottish & Newcastle and Denmark's Carlsberg, filed May 30 a lawsuit against the tax authority in Moscow, The Herald posted May 31.

The Russian tax authority has demanded that Baltika pay tax arrears of around €14.2m (£9.7m), a spokesman for the company said.

The arrears date back to the fourth quarter of 2003 and the first nine months of 2004. However, a spokesman for Russia's biggest brewer disputed the tax demand as too high, commenting: "We have filed a suit and we will continue to defend our point of view in court."
Earlier this month, Baltika posted a modest gain in first-quarter net income on sales up 13.8% to around £128 million – however, volume had been impacted by distribution difficulties caused by the severe winter weather.

Russia was hit by its coldest winter in a generation, with temperatures plummeting to minus 30 degrees and putting something of a freeze on beer sales. The St Petersburg-based company, which held May 30 its annual meeting, approved a 70% hike in its annual dividend payment.

According to April 2006 operative statistics, Ukrainian malt manufacturers have produced by April 2006 33.7 thousand tons of malt, which is 2% lower than the level of production attended in March, APK-Inform announced May 29.

Ukrainian Goskomstat provided that compared to April 2005, malt production has increased by 5.8 thousand tons (21 %).

Rests deriving from malt processing have made 67.1 thousand tons by the end of April, which is 9% less than the levels assessed by the end of last March.

According to the 2005/06 first 10 months official results, Ukrainian malt production totalled 315.4 thousand tons against 250 thousand tons during the 2004/05 similar period.