Vietnam’s leading state bank BIDV has agreed to provide the country’s largest shipbuilder Vinashin a credit loan worth US$27 million to build a brewery in northern Ha Nam province, Thanhnien News reported May 23.

Vinashin Beer Joint Stock Company, formed earlier this year, clinched the deal Tuesday with BIDV – formally known as the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam.

The beer plant project is estimated to cost $130 million in total investment – of which the Czech Export Bank (CEB) is contributing 50 percent.

The BIDV and CEB loans are repayable over a 10-year term. The local bank pledged to offer a fixed interest rate for the loan, however, the exact rate was not available.

The project also came as part of an earlier co-financing agreement signed between BIDV and CEB last year, following which the two lenders have committed to provide 70 percent of the total capital for the beer maker.

Also yesterday, Vinashin Beer entered into a deal to buy high-tech beer making equipment from the Czech’s ZVU Potez –for the construction of the brewery, with an annual capacity of 100 million liters.

Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar can sell beers Budejovicke pivo and Ceskobudejovicke pivo on the Hungarian market using the identification of origin, representatives of Budvar said, referring to a verdict of the Hungarian Supreme Court, CTK reported May 16.

The court rejected once and for all an appeal of Budvar's rival, the US brewing group Anheuser-Busch, which had been seeking lifting the protection for the identification of origin in Hungary since 2001.

The court also confirmed protection for Budejovicke pivo and Ceskobudejovicke pivo in German, English and French languages (apart from the Czech original).

"We have scored a big success in defending our rights," said Budejovicky Budvar lawyer Helena Lejtnarova.

"The verdict has also reinforced the position of our beer which we sell under the name of Budweiser Budvar," she added.

Hungary is one of the top ten export markets for Budvar. It widely sells the light lager beer Budweiser Budvar on the market.

The dispute had nothing to do with the right to the brand name Budweiser. Budvar is the exclusive owner of the brand in Hungary.

Anheuser-Busch and Budvar have been in dispute over their beer brands since 1906.

Beer output throughout the world is excellent. Both the good economic situation in large parts of the world and the mild temperatures in winter and early spring in Europe are co-responsible.

All large brewing groups report larger sales. Official statistics for January/March are: Russia 23,4 Mill. HL, a staggering plus of 31 %. Even Germany, where beer sales had declined for a number of years before 2006, shows a plus of 2,9 % for the first quarter of this year. The additional demand of malt in 2007 will be substantial.

Breweries in the Czech Republic produced 4.18 million hectolitres of beer in Q1, 3.5 percent more than a year ago, executive director of the Czech Brewing and Malting Association Jan Vesely said, according to CTK , May 16.

Vesely explained the growth by the mild winter and added that sales grew both on the domestic market and abroad.

Some 722,000 hectolitres were exported in Q1, a growth of 4.2 percent year-on-year, but a slowdown from Q1 2006 when the growth reached 14 percent and the year before with 17 percent.

The fast growth had followed the lifting of trade barriers after the country's entry of the EU.

Output for the domestic market increased by 3.3 percent to 3.46 million hectolitres on Q1.

Last year, breweries in the Czech Republic put out 19.79 million hectolitres of beer, up 3.8 percent from 2005.

This year, output could rise to 20 million hectolitres, Vesely had said earlier.

Ursus Breweries, number two on the local beer market, last year improved its profit margins, after having increased its turnover by 30% to around 190 million euros, Ziarul Financiar published May 21.

"We estimate we have lost about 5% of our potential volume increase due to our limited production capacity, therefore we could have achieved a 35% increase in turnover," Dieter Schulze, chairman of Ursus Breweries told ZF. "Ursus sales increased by 23% during the last fiscal year (April 2006 - March 2007) against the previous fiscal year, based on a 42% increase in volumes seen in the last half of the fiscal year. The Romanian market had one of the biggest growth rates in Central and Eastern Europe registering a 24% increase, outrun only by Russia, according to information published by SABMiller.

By comparison, SABMiller's sales increased by 7% in Hungary, 13% in Poland and by less than 2% in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. Schulze specified that the profit margins have improved over the last year, but did not wish to specify the net profit posted by the company on the local market.

Barley sowing surfaces have been continuously decreasing last years, Le Monde published May 23. For German brewers, this is partially due to the lack of profitability regarding wheat and corn. “The trend of barley and malt has been continuously decreasing under the effect of agricultural policy, and the industrial companies has profited of that”, Daniel Huvet, Director of Malteurop International explained. “We have now the levels of fifteen years ago”

Whether the deficit is likely to be covered, barley high prices could be compensated by beer price boosting.

InBev decided to raise its beer price in Germany on May 1.

The business is understandably nervous, as barley and malt sales of crop 2007 are already very large, and trade and coops wonder, whether farmers will harvest a crop of malting barley and fulfil their commitments towards their buyers.

It is interesting to note that German coops and traders started the panic buying, but French coops followed repurchasing part of their earlier sales.