Heineken NV's plan to build a new South African brewery at Sedibeng, south of Johannesburg will generate 7.7 billion rand ($1 billion) in investment, the country's Trade and Industry Department said, Bloomberg reported May 28.

Heineken, the largest Dutch beer maker, also committed to set up new bottling and canning plants in partnership with companies owned by black investors, the department said in a statement issued in Cape Town today.

Heineken will be the anchor project of a development that would generate additional investment, Iqbal Sharma, a deputy director-general in the department, said by telephone today. Earlier, in the printed statement, the government said the brewery itself would cost 7.7 billion rand.

Heineken first announced plans to build the plant on March 7, without saying how much it would cost. Diageo Plc, the world's biggest liquor maker, will own a quarter of the brewery. Construction is expected to be completed in 2009.

The plant will initially have the capacity to produce 3 million hectoliters of beverages, including Heineken and Amstel beer, Heineken said in a March 26 statement.

The Dutch company last year ended a 40 year-old contract under which SABMiller Plc brewed Amstel in South Africa. SABMiller controls more than 90 percent of the ...More Info

A report that SABMiller PLC has held talks with rival InBev about a possible GBP22.6 billion bid from the Belgian brewer was greeted with scepticism, Dow Jones reported May 28.

The article on the Financial Times's Alphaville blog said SABMiller had told Inbev representatives it was willing to formally consider an offer from the Belgium-based brewer of 1500 pence-a-share.

Both SABMiller and InBev declined to comment on the FT report.

The share price reaction was muted however. By 1345 GMT, SABMiller shares were down 13 pence, or 1% at 1309 pence, suggesting the market was not taking the report too seriously - given the low valuation. The reported price of 1500 pence-a-share is just 15% above Tuesday's closing price and SABMiller shares had traded above that level as recently as October.

Cazenove analyst Matthew Webb greeted the report with a large amount of skepticism. He said the 1500 pence price was far too low for a takeover and too high for a merger of equals. "We would therefore be very surprised if any discussions regarding a deal at this price have taken place," Webb said.

The report suggested SABMiller would prefer a so-called merger of equals, with InBev preferring a straightforward takeover. InBev is reportedly ...More Info

Hong Kong-listed investment holding company China Resources Enterprise Ltd has reduced its 2008 beer sales growth target to 15% from the original 25% due to influences from the snow disaster earlier this year and recent Sichuan earthquake, China Knowledge reported May 29.

China Resources had set a target to sell 8.63 million kiloliters of beer this year, representing a 25% rise from last year's 6.9 million kiloliters.

It operates 14 breweries in the quake-hit province, with output accounting for nearly 20% of its 2007 sales volume. At least one facility has been heavily damaged in the quake, the source said.

China Resources suffered a net loss of HK$ 19 million in its beverage businesses in the first quarter of this year, mainly dragged by dramatic losses in newly opened breweries, according to its statement last Thursday. Net profit was HK$639 million during the same period, down 14% from a year earlier.

The Syabar brewing company plans to increase the production capacities from the current 12 million decaliters to 17 million decaliters by the end of 2008 and to 20 million decaliters in 2009, general manager of the Supervisory Board of the Syabar Brewery Henk van Gelderen told reporters on May 28.

In December 2007 Heineken N.V. acquired the Syabar brewery. The capacities will be built through an all-round upgrade project which the investor plans to complete by the end of 2009. According to Henk van Gelderen the modernisation project of the Bobruisk facility will include the reconstruction of the brewhouse, CO2 recuperation systems, the installation of a new line to bottle beer in PET bottles, construction of new warehouses. The new line will produce 22,000 bottles per hour.

According Henk van Gelderen, Bobrov beer will remain Syabar’s mainstream brand. The sales rose 49% last year over 2006 to 5.5 million. The company has been working on improving the brand. The beer in twist-off bottles came into the market in April 2008; new sub-brand Bobrov Original was unveiled in May. The company plans to boost production of beer in PET packaging. On June 1 Syabar will launch the production of natural kvass.

In 2008, Heineken ...More Info

Danish brewer Carlsberg launched an offer to buy out the remaining 25 percent of Estonian brewer Saku at a price of 194.06 Estonian kroons, or 12.40 euros per share, according to Reuters, May 29.

The offer was made after Carlsberg completed its takeover of 75 percent of the Estonian firm. Saku shares closed at 12.16 euros on Wednesday.

"The time period for accepting the bid shall commence on May 29 and end on June 26," Saku said in a statement.

Saku is part of the fast-growing Baltic Beverages Holding group, of which Carlsberg took control following its deal with Heineken to buy and split up British brewer Scottish & Newcastle.

Ukrainian beer companies will revise the price policy for 2008 taking into consideration the increase in production cost, according to the experts, May 28.

The minimal price growth will constitute 20%. But considering that the prices of hops have grown 2 times and the price of malt is going to increase 10-15%, beer prices could increase by 35%.

Greencore, which recently bought convenience food group Home Made Foods in the US, increased its turnover and profits in the first half of the year, The Examiner published May 29.

Group sales at the international convenience food group rose 2.5% to €648.7m and by 10.4% on a constant currency basis, but sterling weakness was a major drag on figures. Operating profit rose 2.5% to €41.1m but were up 11.8% when the sterling difference is discounted.

Both rising material costs and currency exchange were dominant features of the trading period with the hike in food charges alone adding substantially to the costs, most of which were recovered.

However, the currency difference knocked €3.7m off the operating profit over the period and €2.7m from profits at pre tax level.

Adjusted earnings per share rose 7.4% to 13c. Greencore reported its convenience food division, which delivered 68% of operating profits, was underpinned by a good underlying momentum.

The ingredients division, mainly malting, had a very good first half where profits rose 61% from €8.2m to €13.2m on the back of sales that rose 27%.

The group has also been active on the acquisition front in the food area and has made three separate deals in the year to date.

The ...More Info

The first new malting plant in Scotland for over a quarter of a century is to be built in Arbroath, according to Abroath Herald, May 8.

Baird's Malt Ltd. plans to invest over £20 million in expanding the established malting plant at Elliot Industrial Estate.

And on completion the facility will be one of the largest in the country with jobs set to be created to cope with the larger capacity.

Eddie Douglas, Baird's operations manager for Scotland, explained: "We are building a new maltings plant to complement our existing facility. A new barley and drying facility has been commissioned for the 2009 harvest, while a new malting plant will follow in 2010."

The expansion will treble the plant's wet barley intake capacity from 30,000 tonnes currently to almost 85,000.

Mr Douglas continued: "The Arbroath facilities are ideal for investment. Following the closure of maltings at Carnoustie, and to a certain extent Kirkcaldy, there is large demand. Also the good quality of barley in the local area has been key.

"Preparation work is currently ongoing with construction work on the barley and drying facility set to begin in August for completion next year."

He added: "The work will bring new jobs to the site. Currently the plant ...More Info

Malting barley market was calm this week, disturbed only by several deals, La Depeche published May 28. The absence of maltsters explains his situation. The prices a almost unchanged w/w.

Feed barley quotations are decreasing even if the decrease is not as big as for the wheat. The commercial activity in old crop is small.

Late sown spring barley is suffering, especially on heavier soils, FWi reported May 27. Hopefully a little rain and some warmth will bring such crops on. It has been a less than ideal spell with some crops needing treatment against slug damage and others suffering spray damage after a particularly heavy frost just after herbicide and fungicide mixtures had been applied.

There is however some very good barley on the earlier soils which are well into stem extension. Plan now for the T2 fungicide, which should be applied just as the awns become visible. A triazole + strob and chlorothalonil being the best mixture to protect the potential with either Proline (prothioconazole) + Amistar Opti (azoxystrobin + chlorothalonil) or Fandango (prothioconazole + fluoxastrobin) + chlorothalonil being ideal.

Winter barleys have headed and are very free from disease. Most varieties had the final fungicide at GS 45-49. On a few high potential sites we split the Fandango and applied the final dose just after heading.

The international shortage of hops -- the ingredient that adds aroma, body and bitterness -- is causing prices of the agricultural commodity to soar, industry officials say, according to AFP, May 26.

The origins of the hops shortage are linked to an oversupply a decade ago of the agent that provides flavors in beer that range from fruity to woody, said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association.

The glut sent prices plunging and caused farmers to plant fewer acres to hops. That included hops growers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the states that produce the commercial supply of US hops.

At the same time, excess hops were converted to an extract to allow long-term storage and a supply that only now is being depleted despite the fact that production went below usage five years ago.

Add to that what Gatza and Washington-based hops broker Ralph Olson describe as today's global hops market, where weather and other conditions that affected hops harvests worldwide ramped up international competition.

"All the sudden last year, panic hit the street," said Olson, head of Hopunion, a leading supplier of hops to the craft brewing industry.

"It was, What do you mean you don't have hops? We want hops.' International brewers ...More Info

J. Potarzycki, W. Grzebisz Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural University, Poznań, Poland

Abstract
Malt barley production requires a technology increasing nitrogen use efficiency, because of a high sensitivity of barley total grain yield and quality parameters to external growth factors. In the conducted study an effect of two P fertilizers on the background of N application on total and technological grain yields were studied. The highest total grain yield was harvested on plots fertilized with 60 kg N/ha, irrespective of the P fertilizer type. However, the technological grain yield showed a high year-to-year variability; the highest was recorded in 2001 on the plot fertilized with 60 kg N/ha and the P-PAPR fertilizer. The N and S concentrations and N:S ratios in immature grains at harvest were used to evaluate both yield types. Nitrogen concentration in the final total yield allowed making yields prognosis with the highest probability. The maximum yields of technological malt barley were attainable provided that total S concentration in immature grains at harvest was above 0.23% and the N:S ratio was narrower than 8.0. Keywords: malt barley; maturity; immature grain fraction; nitrogen and sulphur indices; grain yields ... Load full article, 7 pages, 221 Kb, PDF file