Danish brewer Carlsberg said on Friday it would invest BGN 20 mil over the next three years in upgrading its Bulgarian subsidiary Shumensko, according to Novinite, June 15.

"On the eve of the 125th anniversary of the Shumensko brand, we want to reaffirm our commitment to invest in the successful development of the brewery and the brand," Shumensko CEO Alexandar Grancharov said in a statement.

"In addition to constant upgrades to our production facilities, we plan to build a new water treatment plant, which will be ready by the end of 2008," he added.

The company has invested BGN 50 M in production upgrades since 2003 and a further BGN 17 M in marketing the brand.

Carlsberg took over Bulgarian brewers Shumensko and Pirinsko in 2002, boosting its stakes in the two companies a year later and merging them to create Carlsberg Bulgaria in 2004.

The company is the third-biggest brewer in Bulgaria with a market share of 22% at the end of last year. Bulgarian per capita consumption of beer is 68 litres, according to Carlsberg data.

Investment bank Merrill Lynch (MER) Tuesday increased its target price for Chilean Beverage Company and brewer Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA (CU) to $40.00 per American Depository Receipt from its previous target of $35/ADR, according to Dow Jones Newswires, June 19.

CCU, Chile's dominant beer producer, has a commanding domestic market share.

"The Chilean consumer is among the most vibrant in Latin America," with a buoyant economy to shore up CCU's bottom line, Merrill research analysts said in their note. Rising income levels support sales of premium and "super-premium" beer brands, they added.

Corporate restructuring - including "a net headcount reduction of about 6%" - will help improve efficiency, they also said.

Controlled by local investment holding company Quinenco SA (QUINENCO.SN), CCU is one of the few major brewers to remain independent in Latin America, making it a potential takeover candidate.

"CCU provides exposure to potential consolidation. A control premium for CCU would add 30% or more to our price objective," the analysts said.

At 1608 GMT, CCU shares were traded up 1.3% at 3,870.00 pesos ($7.33) in Santiago, widely outperforming the benchmark Ipsa index, which was up 0.1%.

Scottish spring barley growers have received a further boost with news of another new plant to provide malt to the burgeoning Scotch whisky industry, FWi reported June 18.

Irish-owned Greencore Malt is increasing capacity at its Buckie plant in North-east Scotland from 40,000t to 60,000t in time for the 2008 harvest.

This follows news two weeks ago of a £12m investment by Simpsons Malt to increase production at its Berwick-on-Tweed maltings by 40,000t.

Scotland has lost 120,000t of malting capacity in recent years as a result of plant closures and distillers are concerned about future supplies of malt.

With the world-wide increase in demand for Scotch whisky, distillers are offering higher prices and long-term contracts to secure future supplies.

A £30-£40/tonne increase in forward contract prices for malting barley to £110-£120/tonne for this year’s harvest has halted the decline in the Scottish spring barley acreage which this year is estimated at 210,000ha.

Since 2005 EU malting capacities have been reduced by 300,000 tons, mostly inefficient units of large malting groups. Apart from two bankruptcies in Germany, the small and medium size maltsters have survived the cruel price war of the years 2004 till 2006.

The present malting capacity is 8,7 Mill. tons, production during the present crop year was no more than 8,3 Mill. tons. The beer output in the whole world, and also in the EU (Germany, Poland, Czech and Slovakia report excellent results) is surprisingly good and Scottish distillers are increasing their whisky production.

Market analysts raise their estimate of domestic EU malt demand to 6.8 million tonnes in 2007 and to 6.9 million tonnes in 2008. That leaves a theoretical export surplus of 1.5 million tonnes this year. No wonder that supplies are very tight in spite of sharply reduced exports. In most cases malt is leaving the malting plants straight from the kiln, requirements of a minimum storage time of malt before delivery, as well as specifications of barley varieties and quality parameters could not always be fully respected since the crop failure of 2006.

June and July weather can still change prospects to better or worse, but in any case the EU faces another year of tight malting barley supplies and high prices, market analysts commented in a report on June 4th.

The USA expect to harvest a large crop of good quality, weather conditions have favoured the country this year. In Canada planting is still not finished, market analysts commented June 4th.

The IGC had taken back its crop estimate from 13 to 12 Mill. tons, but now farmers may switch intended wheat acreage to the shorter cycle barley and the barley crop may still be quite large. Late seeded barley will not qualify for malting, but nevertheless malting barley supplies are expected to be plentiful.

The problem No. 1 remains the Canadian Wheat Board and the future marketing of barley. At present the CWB cannot execute old crop and new crop barley sales, which puts maltsters into serious difficulties.

In Australia barley planting advances well in the South and East, slower in the West. Rainfalls are called good on the Eastern side of the country, but the West still needs better precipitation.