Beer major Anheuser-Busch InBev is planning to set up a greenfield facility in North India and is also working on making its brands available in more states, including Maharastra, by June next year, the Hindus Business Line reported on December, 25.

“The new unit (for producing beer) will either come up in Haryana or Rajasthan, with an investment of around Rs 70-80 crore excluding land costs,” InBev India International Chief Executive Officer, Mr Raja Mukherji, said.

Currently, InBev's products are available in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and by the second quarter of 2009, it will be available in more states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

According to Mr Mukherji, the company is looking at setting up the greenfield brewery in North India with a capacity of around 3-4 million cases per annum. AB InBev is in the process of finalising long-term contracts with breweries to manufacture its brands in different States.

InBev markets locally brewed ‘Tennet's’ brand beer and is soon going to start producing another brand ‘Becks’ in the country from its international portfolio.

“We have recently started producing our brand 'Tennet's' (in a contract manufacturing agreement with local beer producers) in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, we will also introduce locally ...More Info

Asia Pacific Breweries Limited (APB) announced on December, 26 that the APB group has increased its stake in Thai Asia Pacific Brewery Co., Ltd and TAP Trading Co., Ltd from 35% to 36.84% through the purchase of shares representing 1.84% of the share capital of each of the companies (Sale Shares) for an aggregate consideration of Baht 50.17 million, or S$2.1 million paid in cash.

The company said that the purchase is not expected to have a material effect on the net tangible assets per share or earnings per share of APB for the current financial year. The said consideration was arrived at on a willing buyer and seller basis taking into account the 30 September 2008 aggregate book value of S$2.459 million of the Sale Shares.

The purchase will be funded from internal funds resources, APB posted.

None of the directors or substantial shareholders of APB has any interest, direct or indirect in the acquisition transaction.

Ukraine’s parliament has decided to increase the excise tax on beer from the current 0.31 UAH/litre to 0.34 UAH/litre as from July, 1, 2009, finance.ua reported on December, 26.

Initially, it was planned to raise the excise on beer as from the beginning of the next year to 0.39 UAH/litre, and as from July – to 0.49 UAH/litre.

The amendments were adopted when the document was prepared for the second reading.

Anheuser-Busch InBev disclosed on December, 23 the notification of significant shareholdings that it has received according to the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of significant shareholdings in listed companies.

EPS had 22,956,704 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 116,160,336 (7.25 %).

BRC’s before-transaction rights were 2,810,200. After the transaction, the company had 7,306,510 (0.46%).

Stichting InBev had 241,712,000 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 736,902,400 (45.99 %).

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s voting rights remained at the before-transaction level of 11,815,726 (0.74%).

Brandbrew’s voting rights also did not change after the transaction: 8,747,277 (0.55%).

Rayvax Société d'Investissements had 10 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 13,734,410 (0.86%).

Sébastien Holding had 10 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 484,794 (0.03%).

Fonds InBev Baillet-Latour had 92,135 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 5,485,415 (0.34%).

Fonds Président Verhelst had 0 voting rights before the transaction. After the transaction, its linked to shares voting rights amounted to 7,147,665 (0.45%).

Total voting rights linked ...More Info

Brewers’ efforts to get drinkers to pay more for beer seem to be working, even in an economic downturn, St. Louis Today communicated on December, 23.

In a note to investors, Mark Swartzberg of Stifel Nicolaus pointed out that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said November’s “consumer price index” for beer (a measure of price increases, otherwise known as inflation) was up 4.3 percent so far this year.

“We take this as another proof point that recent price increases are sticking,” Swartzberg said.

He predicted a “stable” pricing environment, without brewers slashing prices and destroying profits in a race for market share.

“We say this because of the relative stability of the category in recessions and the recent formation of MillerCoors, effectively creating an industry duopoly,” the expert noted.

After the Russian Ministry of Agriculture approved the industry task program Malting Barley and Malt in February 2002, the situation has drastically changed, Pivnoe-delo communicated on December, 23.

Today it is possible to agree that Russia’s malting industry is one of the most modern in Europe, the same source said. The domestically produced malt covers 80% of the needs of the Russian brewers. Ten malt houses constructed since 2002 have a total annual production capacity of more than 1 mln tones. The nation’s malting companies purchase more than 1.5 mln tonnes of malting barley in the country, which exceeds more than three times the level of 2001.

As a result of a recently held meeting, Russia’s State Duma Committee acknowledged the necessity of working out and adopting national standards for malting barley and malt. Besides, the Malting Barley and Malt program was suggested for inclusion in the State Program for the Agriculture Industry Development and Agriculture, Raw Materials and Food Market Regulations in 2008 - 2012.

Purchasing prices for feed barley in Ukraine’s ports remain stable, APK-Inform reported on December, 25.

According to industry sources, barley is traded at UAH780-830 per tonne on average. The maximum price does not exceed UAH840 per tonne.

Exporters do not expect significant price fluctuations in the given segment (on conditions that the hryvna’s exchange rate remains relatively stable).

Russia exported 1.371 million metric tons of barley between July 1, the beginning of the current marketing year and Dec. 17, the agriculture ministry said on December, 25.

Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 17 barley exports totalled 301,000 tons.

James J. Hackbarth

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 112(1), 17–24, 2006
Beer Foam collapse is often described as following an EDL ‘Exponential Decay Law’. Parameters are presented in which this is validated at two pouring temperatures, correcting for en-trained beer before tracking dry foam decline over time. The “mean life” time Tau for foam stand on six beer brands was calculated and compared, and the effect of various abuse/control treatments examined. Principal Component Analysis was then applied to correlate measurements of physical parameters with foam Tau. Key words: Exponential decay, foam collapse, foam measure-ment. Load full article, 8 pages, 3219 Kb, PDF file