Mexico's Modelo, the maker of Corona beer, is playing its cards carefully in talks with InBev NV over a partnership as part of the Belgian brewer's planned $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc., Reuters commented on July 29.

Modelo says it has contractual rights to be able to choose whether or not to go into an alliance with InBev.

The Mexican company currently has a favorable deal with Anheuser-Busch, which owns 50 percent of Modelo but does not have administrative or board control.

"On this proposed transaction between AB and InBev, Grupo Modelo is reserving its contractual rights," Modelo's chief executive, Carlos Fernandez, said on Monday, July 28. "Our agreement with Anheuser-Busch, signed in 1993, was carefully constructed to ensure we have a definite say in who our partner is," Fernandez told an analysts' conference call.

Modelo is in the hands of a voting trust run by a group of closely connected Mexican families.

Fernandez said he was optimistic Modelo could reach a favorable solution for its shareholders in the wrangle over InBev's bid for Anheuser, the maker of Budweiser beer and also known as AB.

"We know InBev's management team well. We have been holding discussions over the past weeks about how we could ...More Info

Squeezed by a nationwide smoking ban, rising costs, competition from supermarkets and the economic downturn, total beer sales are down 4.5% compared with the same quarter last year, while beer sales in pubs are down 10.6%, The Press Association reported on July 28 citing the UK Quarterly Beer Barometer of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).

The survey reveals that in total 107 million fewer pints were sold in April to June this year compared with the same period last year - a fall of 1.2 million pints a day. Beer sales in pubs, bars and restaurants fell by 144 million pints - down - down 1.6 million pints a day.

The BBPA estimated the fall in sales had led to Treasury collecting £88 million less in beer duty and VAT than in the same period last year. However sales in supermarkets and shops had continued to rise, with a 3.8% increase on the same quarter last year.

Over the first half of 2008 beer sales were down by 2.9% compared with the same period in 2007, while total beer sales in 2007 were 3.9% down on sales in 2006.

BBPA chief executive Rob Hayward said: "Beer sales are on the slide and ...More Info

The Brewers Association, the trade association representing the majority of U.S. brewing companies, reported growing beer sales from American craft brewers.

Despite a softening economy and challenges with raw materials supply and pricing, craft beer dollar sales during the first half of 2008 increased 11% compared to this same period in 2007. This growth was attributed to a grassroots movement toward fuller flavored, small batch beers made by independent craft brewers.

It was reported that while wine sales show are most affected by the economic downturn, beer sales remain stable. Additionally, craft beer is gaining customers from across all segments of beverage alcohol.

Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, acknowledges the huge distribution advantages the larger brewers have over independent craft enterprises. “At the same time,” he says, “beer from craft brewers is being requested by the customer, which encourages distributors and retailers to make the beer available.”

The Association reported that in the first half of 2008 volume of beer sold by craft brewers grew by 6.5%, totaling an estimated 4 million barrels of beer, compared to 3.768 million barrels sold in the first half of 2007. Harry Schuhmacher of Beer Business Daily stated, “Crafts have really taken pricing this ...More Info

Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB, Latin America's largest beverage company, rose the most in two months in Mexican trading after reporting second-quarter profit and sales that climbed more than analysts estimated, Bloomberg said on July 28.

The information provided by Femsa, as the company is known, states that its net income increased 7.2 percent to 2.5 billion pesos ($247 million), or 70 centavos a local share. Sales climbed 7.7 percent to 40.6 billion pesos, bolstered by more Oxxo convenience stores and beer purchases that helped counter higher grain costs.

The maker of Dos Equis and Tecate beer will expand its convenience-store unit, where sales have tripled in the five years through 2007, by taking the chain to Mexico by the end of the year, Femsa Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio Fernandez said in an April interview.

The company enjoyed the biggest gain since May 23 - 1.84 pesos, or 4.2 percent, to 45.63 pesos in Mexican stock exchange trading. The shares have increased 9.4 percent this year.

Operating income at Femsa climbed 9.4 percent to 5.85 billion pesos from a year ago, according to a statement. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, known as Ebitda, rose 8.2 percent to 8.02 billion pesos.

At ...More Info

With the official sanction of the Azerbaijan State Antimonopoly Service, the deal between Braesseries Internationales Holding Eastern Ltd and Russia’s Baltika OJSC for purchase of Azerbaijan-based “Baku Castel” (Khirdalan brewery) is entering into the final stage, abc.az informed on July 28.

On May 15, Baltika’s president Anton Artemyev claimed that the deal should come into effect after its approval by Azerbaijani antimonopoly organs.

“We have sanctioned the deal on the condition of observation of competition principles,” Samir Dadashov, the director of the State Antimonopoly Service (under Ministry of Economic Development) said.

It was announced that already by summer 2009 the new owner is ready to launch production of its beer brands at the factory (“Baltika #0 non-alcoholic”, “Baltika #5 Gold”, “Baltika #7”, “Baltike LITE”) with keeping existing range of domestic brands (Castel, Hirdalan, “33” Export, Bizim Pive and Efsane).

In the prospect Baltika is going to organize manufacture of licensed brands (“Nevskoye” and Kronenbourg) and growing of malting barley. Baltika’s total investments in Khirdalan brewery’s capacities are expected to be around $20 million.

It will be the first case when Baltika opens a brewery outside Russia.

The Company estimates that 6 liters of beer per capita was drunk in Azerbaijan that is much less than average ...More Info

Breweries in Malaysia have cautioned that the RM4.77bil beer and stout industry will face tougher times if excise duties are increased further, thestar.com reported on July 29.

Malaysian excise duty rates were the highest in Asia and second highest in the world, after Norway. The Government increased the excise duty three years consecutively from 2004 to 2006 with an unprecedented 27% hike in 2006.

Guinness Anchor Bhd managing director Charles Ireland said another round of excise duty hike could result in smuggling becoming more lucrative and increased competition from wine, spirits and compounded hard liquor.

“The Government would be right not to increase excise tax this year. The industry is under tremendous pressure and we expect it to remain negative in the next year or so.

“Even more people will switch to wine, spirits and compounded hard liquor, which have higher alcohol content, thus promoting irresponsible drinking and causing health hazards.”

Based on a consumption forecast model, when excise duties increase, beer and stout consumption will decline 6.5% and 20.8% respectively.

Government tax collection had already reached an optimum level and any further increase would only lead to lower tax collection, Ireland added.

Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) will invest 15 million euro to develop a brewery in Uzbekistan, Interfax quoted Yevgeny Shevchenko, general director of the Sarbast Plus LLC, on July 28.

The investment is needed to modernize the production lines in order to improve the quality of product and to enable production of other beers.

According to Shevchenko, the joint venture Sarbast Plus LLC, in which BBH is the majority owner, will begin production of Baltika Classic No. 3 and Baltika Strong No. 9 before the end of the year.

The company also considers expansion of Baltic brands made at the brewery and introduction of a number of innovative products.

It is reported that the previous investments made by Baltic Beverages Holding in the Uzbek brewery constituted about 60 million euro.

According to the licensing agreement between the two parties, Sarbast Plus is planning to produce about 15 million liters of beer per year in Uzbekistan under the license.

The agreement gives Sarbast Plus exclusive right to Baltika's trademarks, know-how and technology in addition to the production, sale and promotion of Baltika's brands in Uzbekistan.

The Sarbast Plus joint venture was set up in 2006, with BBH owning 75.1% of the venture and the other 24.9% belonging to ...More Info

Sales of alcoholic products constituted 13% of the whole volume of retail commodities turnover in the first half of 2008, according to the data of Belarus’ Ministry of Statistics and Analysis posted by pivnoe-delo.com on July 25.

Consumers purchased beer and alcoholic beverages in the amount of 2 trillion roubles. Beer sales grew by 21.2 % up to 1.15 mln hl compared to the corresponding period of 2007.

Within the structure of total sales of alcoholic beverages, the percentage of beer increased from last year’s 8.5% to 10.3% this year.

An opening price of €165/t has been offered for malting barley amid continuing uncertainty over prices for feed-quality grains, Independent.ie announced the data of July 29.

The €165/t price, offered by Greencore Malt to growers on Wednesday, is down €40/t on the final price offered last year.

However, malting barley growers are set to attend a meeting in the Dolmen Hotel, Carlow, tonight where they will insist that the malting price must equal last year's €205/t.

"Malting barley is costing €100-120/ac more to produce compared with last year," a spokesman for the IFA said.

"Fertiliser cost has increased by €80/ac, while diesel has increased by 30-32c/l or €24/ac to plough, till and sow the crop. If fertiliser keeps going up, that will cost another €80/ac next year," he added.

With malting price down and costs up, the result would be a €200-220/ac cut in farmers' incomes, he insisted.

Merchants remain reluctant to quote any figures for feed grains as they watch the harvest here and in Europe closely.

British farmers were offered stg£113/t by merchants for dried barley on Thursday. A price of stg£118/t was bid for dry wheat. London futures markets have fallen by stg£20/t over the past month, driven by reports ...More Info

Feed barley and designated barley values have not changed since June, says the CWB’s Pool Return Outlook (PRO) for the 2008 – 2009 crop year published on cwb.ca on July 24.

Feed barley

With Europe and the Black Sea region reaping the harvest, high declines in prices were registered on international markets. Relatively favourable weather conditions promise good yield this growing season. Feed barley prices in North America have declined during the past month, due mostly to the drop in corn values. Dryness in Australia is providing some support as the prospects for average yields begin to decline. Despite poor soil-moisture levels and reduced yield expectations in the extreme northern growing areas of Alberta, Canada has mostly good crop conditions. Barley crops suffered from late-season dryness in the Pacific Northwest, Montana and North Dakota, as a consequence, condition ratings dropped over the past month. Some support for prices will be rendered by the US deteriorating crop conditions.

Designated barley

The forthcoming harvest of spring barley in Europe has reduced international prices. Some concerns about quality in the EU caused by recent rains were dissolved by the favourable yield prospects. Malting barley prices will be supported by declining conditions in Australia. Canada’s success has been ...More Info

Tuija Sarlin, A. Vilpola, E. Kotaviita, J. Olkku and A. Haikara

Abstract

J. Inst. Brew. 113(2), 147–153, 2007 Fungal hydrophobins have been shown to induce gushing of beer. In order to study the occurrence and fate of hydrophobins at different stages of the production chain of beer, barley samples artificially infected in the field with Fusarium culmorum, F. graminearum and F. poae were collected during the growing period as well as during various stages of the malting process. In addition, naturally infected malt was brewed in pilot scale and samples were collected throughout the process. The samples were assayed for hydrophobin content using an ELISA method. The results showed that fungi produced hydrophobins that accumulated during barley grain development in the field, but that production was more pronounced during malting. Prolonged storage of barley tended to reduce the ability of fungi to produce hydrophobins in malting. Studies on the fate of hydrophobins during the brewing process revealed that mashing released hydrophobins from the malt into the wort. Some loss of hydrophobins occurred throughout the brewing process with spent grains, cold break (wort boiling) and surplus yeast. In addition, the beer filtration step reduced hydrophobin levels. Despite the substantial loss of hydrophobins during brewing, the level was high enough to induce the gushing detected in the final beer. Key words: Brewing, Fusarium, hydrophobins, malting. Load full article, 7 pages, 534 Kb, PDF file