Beer consumption in Germany rose in 2006 for the first time in six years, mainly as a result of the football World Cup and an unusually hot summer, Deutsche Presse-Agentur announced on January 16.

The German Brewers Association said Germans drank an average of 117.8 litres of beer last year, about the same quantity as 2003 and 2 per cent more than 2005.

Beer consumption has been steadily declining in Germany since 1976 when consumption in then West Germany was 151 litres per head.

After unification in 1990 consumption dropped from 142 litres in 1992 to below 120 litres in 2003.

Last summer saw temperatures soar above 30 Celsius for weeks on end in June and July. The World Cup in Germany also led to an increased demand for beer by soccer fans, the brewers association said.

Velke Popovice produced 1527 million hl of beer in 2006 which is the best result the company has ever had, media announced on January 15.

This made Velke Popovice one of the three biggest brewers in the country. In the last 4 years, the company’s beer production has risen by 40%, the most consistent grow trend in the domestic industry. These results were reached due to production modernization sustained by 50 million crones in investments.

Velke Popovice was founded in 1874 when it produced 18000 hl of beer. Today, the brewer is a member of Plzensky Prazdroj Holding, the biggest beer producer in Europe and also the biggest beer exporter in Czech Republic. The most important Holding’s brands are Kozel, Gambrinus, Pilsner Urkvell and Radegast.

In the same time, Plzensky Prazdroj is owned by SABMiller – the 2nd world’s biggest beer producer.

Vodka will lose its title of Russian national drink, the analysts said on January 16. During last several years the vodka consumption has been decreasing gradually, replaced by wine and cocktails. In the next five years the sales of vodka will decrease by a quarter and that of wine will grow 3 times.

According to specialist the sales of vodka and wine have decreased substantially: those of wine with 7.5% till 10.25 million hl and those of vodka with 3.9% till 17.56 hl.

The vodka consumption is decreasing continuously according to Euromonitor and fell 15% from year 2000. It also foresees a 3.9-4.9% decrease each year registering 20% by 2011.

As for beer, the sales grew 10.4% in 2006 and by 2011 it’s expected a 24.3% growth. In order to stop the vodka sales’ shrink, market operators try to promote the expensive vodka brands.

In 2006, members of the Lithuanian Association of Breweries exported 1.23 mln dal of beer or 300,000 dal less than in 2005 (1.52 mln dal), Baltic Business News reported January 12.

According to brewers, the largest beer exporter last year was Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe which overtook Svyturys-Utenos Alus, export leader in 2005.

Svyturys-Utenos Alus was also overtaken by Gubernija, which previously ranked third in terms of exports. Last year, it exported 457,000 dal of beer (377,000 dal in 2005).

Last year, Svyturys-Utenos Alus exported 245,000 dal of beer. Two years ago, when the group was top exporter in Lithuania, its exports were 664,000 dal.

Barley production is estimated at 180 million bushels, unchanged from the Small Grains 2006 Summary but down 15% from last year, according to the USDA, SNS News reported on January 12.

Average yield per acre, at 61.0 bushels, is the same as the previous estimate but 3.8 bushels below 2005. The area harvested for grain is estimated at 2.95 million acres, unchanged from September but 10% below a year ago.

Planted area, at 3.45 million acres, is unchanged from the previous estimate but 11% lower than in 2005. Area harvested for grain is the lowest since 1885, while production is the lowest since 1936. Harvested area is down in most States, including the four States with the largest acreage.