Cobra Beer, the company founded in 1989 by Lord Karan Bolimoria, made an operating loss of £6.64m in its most recent year to July 2007 compared to an operating loss of £2.7m the year before, The Morning Advertiser reported June 4.

The increase in operating loss was primarily due to higher administrative expenses of £15.3m – compared to £9.5m the year before.

Loss after tax amounted to £13m – £1m less excluding share option costs and non-recurring items – compared to £4.5m the year before.

The increase in loss after tax is due to significantly higher interest charges on loan notes of £5.4m (£357,894 in 2006) due to a full year's interest being calculated on £25m raised in June 2006.

The increase in operating losses reflected higher marketing expenditure in 2007 in relation to an “integrated advertising campaign undertaken to reposition Cobra beyond the Indian food occasion” and higher administrative costs in India to support its growth.

Cobra also saw 34% growth in volume and 30% growth in value in the UK market.

In a recent interview in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Bilimoria said: “It’s a very likely option that someone comes along and makes us an offer we cannot refuse.

“I am not saying I am ...More Info

Anheuser-Busch (BUD)'s "remarkable strength" in China impresses Credit Suisse, Clusterstock reported June 4.

A-B has been patiently building a position in China since 1993 and we believe the company's efforts are now bearing fruit. We believe China is wrongly overlooked as an A-B growth driver in what will be over time the world's most important beer market.

Unfortunately for the Busch family, this means InBev can create even more synergy with BUD:

It was clear on our visits to China that InBev is executing an inferior model to both SABMiller and A-B and this has implications for all parties in light of recent speculation....

The thesis of our report is that the Chinese market is in need of greater consolidation and hungry for the improved marketing and distribution execution that only a strong national market leader with A-B's brand and marketing skills can provide.

Any combination of the assets of A-B, InBev and SAB would be welcome in a market in need of consolidation. Thus, from a purely objective perspective, a lock up of InBev and A-B would be positive. When considering InBev's challenges in the market, we believe InBev management is more than cognizant of the potential contained within this equation.

Following the purchase of the brewery in Azerbaijan and the signing of an agreement on production of Baltika beer in Uzbekistan, the Company has continued to strengthen its position in export markets and to expand the geography of its sales in Africa, the company reported in a press release, June 2.

In June, Baltika beer will go on sale in Kenya, as well as in the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. Baltika Breweries already supplies beer to three African countries — Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire and the Congo. Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda are all members of COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa), which is a special economic zone for duty-free exchange of goods between the participating states.

The first dispatch of two 40-foot sea containers of Baltika № 7 Export beer in cans took place last week. This shipment of beer will arrive in the Kenyan port of Mombassa at the end of June 2008: delivery from St. Petersburg to Mombassa takes 30-35 days.

Baltika’s distributor on the territory of the COMESA trading bloc is Golden Crown South Sudan. Baltika beer will initially be sold in the largest and most populous cities, such as Mombassa and Nairobi in Kenya; ...More Info

Malt markets have been inactive during May, according to analysts, may 30. The large malting companies in Europe report that they have sold 60 – 70 % of their production in 2009 under LTA’ s plus similar quantities for the years thereafter. We estimate total EU sales for 2009 at 80 - 90 % of available capacities, which include, however, a.m. LTA’s, and reserved quantities for traditional customers, especially in the U.K., where many sales are finalized after the barley harvest.

Malt for delivery in 2008 is still in demand, but hardly offered. When the first LTA’s were concluded, an open barley price basis was of prime importance. It still is, but due to the sharp increase of oil and gas prices the cost of energy and transport are affecting malt calculations very much as well.

In April 2008, Ukrainian enterprises produced 46.700 tonnes of malt against 49.800 tonnes in March, up 42% as compared to April, 2007, according to State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, Agrimarket reported June 3.

By the end of April, malt stocks at enterprises totaled 70.000 tonnes, down by 2% as compared to the analogous period in March.

In total, during ten months of 2007/08 MY (July-May), malt production in Ukraine totaled 406.500 tonnes against 317.100 tonnes during the analogous period in 2006/07 MY.

India’s beer makers may be hit hard by a jump in the prices of barley due to increased domestic consumption and export demand, Livemint reported June 3.

Barley accounts for one-sixth of the cost of making beer, and its prices are currently hovering around Rs1,300 for 100kg, against just Rs750 a year ago, which analysts say is an all-time high.

“The price jump has been substantial this year,” said Sundeep Kumar, director (corporate affairs and communication) at SABMiller India Ltd, the Indian arm of the UK-based SABMiller Plc. “This (price hike) is leading to a 10% increase in cost of beer from barley alone,” he said by email.

Beer and malt firms consume nearly 25% of India’s barley crop of 1.33 million tonnes (mt); the rest is fed to animals.

SABMiller consumes around 75,000 tonnes of barley a year. United Breweries Ltd, India’s biggest beer firm by sales, uses about 100,000 tonnes.

Kalyan Ganguly, president of United Breweries, said, “The increase in barley prices will have a huge impact on profitability of beer companies. We can’t do substantial imports, because if we import it attracts duty.”

In 2007, India exported the cereal as animal feed for the first time to West Asia because of a slump in exports from Ukraine, ...More Info

In April 2008, barley export in Russia totaled 5.700 tonnes, up 2 times as compared to March, aacording to AgriMarket, June 4. In April 2007, barley export totaled 162.500 tonnes. The total volume was exported to Kazakhstan.

In total, during July-April of 2007/08 MY, Russia exported 1.02 mln tonnes of barley, down 24% as compared to the same period last year.

Taking into account introduction of duties for export of this crop, total barley export by the end of this season would not reach last year's volume (1.5 mln tonnes).

The market of new malting barley crop is blocked by the worries about the quality of barley in Scandinavia and North-Eastern Germany. The weather is too dry. If this continues next days, the proteins level could be affected. The demand is growing.

The feed barley market is almost inexistent. The operators made only some small transactions.

Crop forecasts are 10.5 Mill. tons of barley in Canada and 5.1 Mill. tons in the USA, according to analysts, May 30. Dryness is reported from Saskatchewan, but overall crop prospects are fair to good. In view of expected ample barley offerings from the Black Sea, export chances are seen much lower than last year, 1.5 after 2.6 Mill. tons for Canada, 0.55 after 1.0 Mill. tons for the USA.

It looks as if the CWB will retain its exclusive rights for all barley exports and all malting barley marketing at least for another year. If a good crop is gathered, 2.0 to 2.5 Mill. tons will qualify for the malting barley pool, of which at least 1.0 Mill. tons will be sold to domestic maltsters. Rumours are that around 0.75 Mill. tons have already been contracted at prices around US$ 400,-.

For the September/December period feed barley markets are delivered ports resp. consumption (all prices in Euro): Rouen 174,-, Holland 176,- U.K. 167,50, according to analysts.

For comparison milling wheat Rouen 191,-, Germany 198,- (high quality classes 218,- to 238,-), U.K. 188,50. Maize French Southwest 188,50, FOB Rhine 191,50, Holland 199,-, U.K. 214,-. U.S. Yellow Corn, which cannot be imported because of GMO restrictions, would cost 221,- CIF Antwerp/Hamburg range.

There are two conclusions:

A) Feed barley is attractively priced against other feed grains, consumption will increase vs. last year’s by several Million tons. In the present crop year imports of 18,7 Million tons of maize and sorghum complemented EU feed supplies. IGC estimates EU barley consumption for ethanol at 700.000 tons. Therefore the barley export surplus will hardly be more than 4 Mill. tons in 2008/09 in spite of a larger crop.

B) The other point is that today’s malting barley premiums are still good enough vs. feed barley prices, but not against maize and especially wheat price levels. It is feared that farmers will react by planting more winter wheat this autumn, to the detriment of spring barley acres next spring.

Ukrainian hop producers are not able to cover the needs of beer sector, according to the President of AO Obolon Brewery, Alexandr Slobodyan, the media reported May 30.

Country’s beer market is growing while hop production remains the same. According to Mr. Slobodyan, domestic hop producers, who benefit every year from financial resources from a special fund, are selling their product at European prices level. Also, the production of hop extract is almost inexistent in situation where the beer producers use a 50:50 proportion of hops and hop extract.

In these conditions, producers are obliged to import the hops, paying 20% tax in state budget.

The Czech Republic farmers who have grown Saaz hops as part of a contract with Bell's Brewery Inc. have pulled out the deal with the Kalamazoo brewery, which uses the hops to make its popular seasonal brew Oberon, president Larry Bell said, according to Kalamazoo Gazette, June 5.

The move could affect next year's brew.

Bell said he found out about it a few weeks ago and that the contract with the farmers had "some loopholes."

It's another example of the worldwide hops shortage hurting smaller brewers. Between bad weather in Europe, a spike in barley prices and a decrease in hops production by U.S. farmers, those with hops know they are sitting on a coveted product.

"The amount of dollars flying around for hops, these guys are seeing the opportunity they have and jumping at them to make some real dollars this year," Bell said.

Bell said the brewery has already started experiments at the Comstock facility and they "may substitute things because of the sheer lack of availability."

Some of those experimental brews will be available at the Bell's Eccentric Cafe, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., in the coming weeks. Bell also said he will meet with a hops broker next month in Washington to ...More Info

Janette Bobalova, Jiri Salplachta1 and Josef Chmelik

Abstract
J. Inst. Brew. 114(1), 22–26, 2008 The protein composition of barley partly determines its quality in terms of malting and brewing. For this reason, the watersoluble proteins of two different barley cultivars were investigated by gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization mass spectrometry. Mass spectra were obtained directly from barley extracts by using three matrices. According to the quality of the measured spectra, it was possible to establish which matrix was the most suitable for the analysis of water-soluble proteins from barley. We found that the protein patterns did not differ significantly between Jersey and Tolar varieties. However, our results showed the influence of the malting process on the posttranslational modification of some watersoluble barley proteins. These proteins also survive the brewing process and they are very important for the formation and stability of beer foam. Several barley proteins were also identified by proteomic analysis. Key words: Barley, barley proteins, MALDI, mass spectrometry, matrix, protein pattern. ... Load full article, 4 pages, 1440 Kb, PDF file