New York - SABMiller planned to invest $370 million (R2.8 billion) in its African activities this year as local incomes rose, the brewer said, according to Business Report, April 8.

"I don't think I've seen so many opportunities for us to develop our business," Mark Bowman, the managing director for the company in Africa outside its South African domestic market, said at a meeting with journalists in London.

African and Asian countries were driving sales growth at SABMiller, the maker of Castle Lager and now the second-largest brewer in China, according to the company's website.

The beer maker and its Chinese joint venture partner run more than 50 breweries in the Asian country and bought four more properties in August.

Sales "continue to show relentless, unabated growth in China", said Ari Mervis, the managing director of SABMiller's Asian activities.

The amount of beer sold by the company in Africa and Asia gained 18 percent in the nine months to December, helped by a 20 percent increase in China.

The African unit sells beer and soft drinks in 13 countries, including Tanzania and Angola, and has a joint venture with privately owned French beverage maker Castel in Morocco and Algeria.

Sub-Saharan Africa is enjoying its longest period of ...More Info

Chile's largest brewer, CCU, said its sales volume rose 10.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, according to Reuters, April 7.

The rise in sales was strongest in Argentina, where CCU, or Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA, is the second-largest beer producer.

Sales volume there rose 13.5 percent from the same period in 2007, with beer sales volume up 13.8 percent. Wine sales there by comparison fell 9.4 percent in terms of volume.

Sales volume rose 10.1 percent in Chile, with beer sales volume up 8.0 percent during the period and soft drink volumes up 16.4 percent.

Sales volumes of wine for export, meanwhile, fell 14.9 percent, excluding bulk wine. CCU said.

The brewer's full-year sales volumes climbed 6.1 percent in 2007 from 2006.

Tsingtao Brewery Co, owner of China's best-known beer brand, said it planned to buy the remaining shares it does not already own in 22 units from its parent to simplify its shareholding structure, Reuters reported April 9.

The stakes, valued at a combined 76.94 million yuan ($10.99 million) and ranging from 2.27 percent to 30 percent, were put up for sale through the Qingdao Equity Exchange.

"This is a fair and formal way to transfer these minority stakes," said board secretary Yuan Lu. "After the transaction, Tsingtao's business will be more transparent, and the parent company Tsingtao Brewery Group will focus on real estate development."

Tsingtao Brewery Co, partly owned by top U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc, is increasing capacity and expanding overseas as it competes with rivals such as SABMiller and Heineken in China, the world's biggest beer market by volume.

Yuan said on Wednesday that Tsingtao had yet to receive notice from China's tax regulator on whether the company needed to pay back taxes for the past four years, which would be applied against its 2007 profits.

The government has argued that Tsingtao, which paid a preferential tax rate of 15 percent because of its partnership with Anheuser-Busch, should pay back tax for ...More Info

Market experts forecast the local beer market to bubble over in the time ahead owing to two of the largest domestic brewers going public, and the increased presence of foreign players, VNS reported April 7.

Saigon Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) and Hanoi Beverage Corporation (Habeco) were restructured recently, emerging as joint stock companies. They have since unveiled plans to raise their share of the ever more discerning local market, targeting outputs of 1 billion and 900 million litres of beer by 2010, respectively.

Other domestic producers have put down their drinks to speed up construction of breweries with annual output of more than 50 million litres each. Most will be put into operation within the next few years.

Foreign enterprises including Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), SAB Miller, Kronenbourg and Miguel Viet Nam have also accelerated their investments in local beer.

Asia Pacific Breweries boasts four plants in Viet Nam and has set up a joint venture with Quang Nam Province’s VBL, which churns out 500 million litres a year.

SAB Miller and Kronenbourg have also established joint ventures with local partners Vinamilk and the Cigarette Corporation, respectively, to build breweries with estimated annual output of at least 100 million litres.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Viet Nam hopes to ...More Info

European Union regulators have approved a joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller PLC that will market and distribute both companies' beers in the United States, The Associated Press reported April 7.

The EU green light, given Monday, comes after a preliminary EU probe found no competition concerns or any effects on either companies' operations in the 27-nation bloc.

Molson Coors Brewing brews Coors Light and Blue Moon among other brands. SABMiller makes Miller Lite and other brews.

The two announced in October that they would form a joint venture called MillerCoors that would market and distribute their beers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Suntory Ltd. said it will raise shipment prices of its canned beer and quasi-beer products on September 1 due to surging raw materials and packaging costs, according to Jiji Press, April 9.

Retail prices of the canned products, including "happoshu" low-malt beer-like beverages and third-segment alcoholic drinks, are expected to go up 3-5 pct. This will be Suntory's first price hike of canned beer products since March 1990.

From this month, Suntory raised the prices of its restaurant-use barreled and bottled beer products.

Its bigger rivals have already raised prices of all beer and beer-like products, with Kirin Brewery Co. starting hikes in February, Asahi Breweries Ltd. in March and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. in April.

Suntory's decision to keep prices of its mainstay canned products steady during the summer peak demand season may allow it to catch up with Sapporo, the third largest player in the industry, in market share.

Better barley breeds could be the salvation for the beer brewing industry as global warming threatens crop production, an industry conference has heard, New Zeeland Herald published April 9.

Industry scientists and brewers from more than 24 countries in Auckland for the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's convention heard that climate modelling pointed to an increased drying in barley growing areas in New Zealand and Australia.

Jim Salinger, principal scientist with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, told the conference that Canterbury, the main barley growing area in New Zealand, would likely be adversely affected as it gets hotter and drier.

"But new areas may well open out in Otago and Southland where there's sufficient rainfall," he said.

Lion Nathan currently sources around 70 per cent of its malting barley from Canterbury, while DB Breweries also uses local crops for most of its products. Some barley comes from Europe for Heineken, with small proportions from Australia and the UK for DB's specialty products.

Australia - dubbed the "drying continent" - was expected to be 1 to 1.5 degrees warmer by 2030, with less rainfall in the key barley growing areas of South Australia, Victoria, coastal New South Wales and southwest Australia. Between 20 ...More Info

New crop prospects are altogether favourable. The IGC forecasts a world barley crop of 149 Mill. tons vs. 135 Mill. tons last year, analysts recently reported.

Malting barley markets cannot go their own way, prices must remain at a good premium above coarse grains, before farmers will sell, and at a good premium above wheat so that farmers will not divert further acres to wheat for the crop of 2009.

Cooperatives, trade and industry all over the EU recommend to their suppliers and customers to sell their crops and cover their barley and malt demand slowly, but continuously, in order to arrive at an average price for the campaign, the analysts recently reported. It could turn out completely wrong and financially dangerous to stay long or short for total production or demand.

The U.K. reports two types of barley contracts, replaceable, meaning that sellers must deliver irrespective of the outcome of the crop, and non-replaceable, meaning the contract becomes void in case of a harvest failure. Obviously, the replaceable contracts are trading at a premium. Czech and Poland purchase new crop barley with minimum contract prices. It means no more than a delivery promise, because final prices will be fixed after harvest. Denmark, Sweden and Germany do not follow any specific trading schemes, Scandinavian producers have been flexible and sold a good percentage of their expected crop, German farmers wait stubbornly for even higher prices and may well be penalized in case of a good crop.

Robert Lee, Maria Hrmova, Rachel Burton and Geoffrey Fincher Department of Plant Science, The University of Adelaide, Waite Road, Urrbrae S.A. 5064.

Introduction
Following water uptake and germination of a barley grain, hydrolytic enzymes that are mainly secreted from the scutellar epithelial layer and the aleurone layer, catalyse the depolymerization of starch and protein reserves in the starchy endosperm. Degradation products are subsequently absorbed by the scutellum and translocated to the developing seedling. During commercial malting operations, barley grain is steeped in water and germinated under conditions designed to maximise the modification of the starchy endosperm, but to minimise vegetative growth of the young seedling (Bamforth and Barclay, 1993; Briggs et al., 1981). In both processes enzymic degradation of cell walls in the starchy endosperm is crucial. Because most of the key enzymes are secreted from the aleurone layers, the walls of starchy endosperm cells represent a physical barrier which denies the enzymes free access to their substrates within starchy endosperm cells. As a result, the rapid early removal of the cell wall is of central importance both for the successful germination of the grain (Fincher, 1989) and for the production of a well-modified malt (Bamforth and Barclay, 1993).
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