SABMiller plc issued its interim management statement for the third quarter ended December, 2008, on January, 15.

According to the world’s second-largest brewer, the statement also represents a trading update for the same period. The calculation of organic growth rates shown below excludes volumes for acquired businesses for the first 12 months after an acquisition.

SABMiller reported that its lager volumes for the third quarter were 1% ahead of the prior year, and 2% ahead for the year-to-date. On an organic basis, lager volumes for the third quarter declined 1%, and are in line with the prior year on a year-to-date basis.

“Consumer demand has been affected by the current global economic slowdown, and has continued to weaken in many of the group's markets. The financial performance of the group in the quarter, supported by firm pricing and cost efficiencies, has been in line with our expectations, notwithstanding the relative strength of the US dollar against the group's major currencies,” the brewer posted on its website.

In Latin America, lager volumes grew by 2% in the quarter. Lager volumes in Colombia were 6% below the prior year, with share gains in the context of a weakening consumer environment. In Peru, lager volumes were ...More Info

Japan’s shipments of beer and beer-like alcoholic drinks in 2008 slid 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 482.68 million cases, The Japan Times reported on January, 16.

This is the fourth straight annual drop and the lowest level since 1991, when the current data-compiling system was adopted, analysts inform.

The weak data are attributable partly to falling consumption among young people and price hikes, the nation’s top five brewers agree. One case holds 20 633-ml bottles.

Asahi Breweries Ltd. remained the industry's No. 1 for the eighth year in a row, garnering a market share of 37.8 percent, followed by Kirin Brewery Co., a unit of Kirin Holdings Co., with 37.2 percent. Suntory Ltd. overtook Sapporo Breweries Ltd. to rank third for the first time with a market share of 12.4 percent by holding off price hikes for its canned beer until last September. Sapporo's market share stood at 11.8 percent. Okinawa-based Orion Breweries Ltd. finished fifth with a market share of 0.8 percent.

Asahi's share of the regular beer market in 2008 exceeded 50 percent for the first time to reach 50.5 percent, thanks to the popularity of its mainstay product, Asahi Super Dry. Suntory saw shipments jump 10.0 percent, while Asahi ...More Info

Belgium’s beer consumption fell by another 4% in 2008, according to provisional data provided by the nation’s Brewers Association, L’Echo reported on January, 15.

Each Belgian drank at least 3.5 litres of beer less last year, calculations show.

The decrease is to be attributed to the global trend towards reducing alcohol consumption. Weakening purchasing power caused at least 1% of the drop and unfavourable weather cut another 0.5 to 1% of the total Belgium’s domestic beer sales, sources comment.

The nation’s beer industry saw last year its sales volume drop below the level of 9 mln hl. In 1990, the brewers sold 12 mln hl on their domestic market. In 2007, Belgium’s beer consumption amounted to 9.137 mln hl (31% lower than in 1990).

“Fortunately, our export sales compensate year by year the drop registered in Belgium,” Theo Vervloet, head of the Belgian Brewers Association.

Australians, who abandoned mixed spirits after the Federal Government's new tax last year, appear to be switching some of their consumption to beer, The Age communicated on January, 16.

A report by stockbroker Citi on beverage trends, based on consumption data from ACNielsen, shows beer sales started to turn around in May — a month after the tax in the ready-to-drink category was increased by 69 per cent.

The upturn in beer consumption in Australia is modest, running at a 0.5 per cent gain in volume by the end of last year — suggesting consumption has stopped shrinking, rather than started growing.

The quarterly report on beverage trends by Citi analysts Andy Bowley and Craig Woolford argues the upturn in beer drinking seems to have benefited Foster's Group most, clawing back 1.8 percentage points of market share from under 49 per cent to more than 50 per cent since May.

Citi's work was also slightly hampered by limited availability of Lion Nathan and Coca-Cola Amatil data, due to the former being in the middle of trying to take over the latter.

"Foster's (beer market) share gains have coincided with the change in management adding support to new CEO Ian Johnston's focus on marketing and innovation," ...More Info

Asahi Breweries reported its December 2008 beer sales on its official site on January, 15.

The Japanese brewer said its domestic beer sales amounted to 204,804 kilolitres (down by 2.1% from December, 2007).

Total domestic beer sales (including the low-malt happoshu and no-malt new genre beer) were 271,150 kilolitres, 0.9% lower than in the same month last year.

January – December domestic beer sales fell by 4.4% to 1,636,575 kilolitres. Total beer sales of the given period constituted 2,308,084 kilolitres (- 3.2% yoy).

The company said among its brands the highest sales increase was registered by Jukusen: 59.1% increase over last year’s December sales, + 101.6% in January – December compared to the same period in 2007. The Style Free brand also sold better than last year (1,220 thousand cases, + 20.8% over December, 2007). The rest of Asahi brands showed lower yoy sales, according to the brewer.

Carlsberg beer sales in Russia were flat during the fourth quarter, and it did not experience the same weakness as peer SABMiller, Jorgen Rasmussen, the Danish brewer's chief executive, was quoted as saying by Reuters on January, 15.

"We try to keep the stocking level firm all year round, only raising it at holidays," Rasmussen said. He added that the Russian beer market had zero growth in 2008 except for the premium beer segment.

ABB Grain announced the opening of its national No.2 malting barley pool on January, 16.

ABB’s pooled grain business unit manager Anthony Fitzgerald said this second pool offered another grain marketing alternative for growers to consider.

The estimated return for the premium varieties Baudin, Gairdner and Buloke will be AU$210-AU$220/tonne FOB with Flagship at AU$215-AU$225/t.

The traditional varieties of Schooner, Sloop, Fitzroy, and Grimmett, have an estimated return of AU$200-210/t FOB.

Segregations such as malt 2, malt 3, and no retention will be available, the company announced.

ABB offers three pool payment alternatives for its barley (malt and feed) pools. The traditional harvest payment, for barley, is 60 per cent of the FOB estimate less 100 per cent of estimated costs.

The other alternatives are quarterly distributions, which will have deducted 100% of costs incurred to the time of each distribution, and a single payment alternative paid at pool finalisation (less costs incurred during the life of the pool).

ABB closed its No.1 malting pool on December 31 last year.

Final figures for last year’s barley harvest were published by the Scottish Government's chief statistician on January, 14, Scotsman reported on the same day.

The production of barley, Scotland's most important crop, rose by 12.9 per cent or 214,000 tonnes to 1.9 million tonnes.

Commodity values have increased, but are still well below 12 months ago. The odds must be that there will be a reduction in the area of crops planted in the spring, with high fertiliser prices making the growing of barley on more marginal land economically doubtful, experts comment.

Participants are very moderate in their activity on the EU feed barley market, La Depeche reported on January, 16.

Sales of feed barley are restricted to very small volumes.

In the south - west, Spanish vendors are offering very small volumes for sale despite large stocks. French suppliers are trying to profit from reports on demand which brings about some small scale deals, experts inform.

EU’s malting barley market is a little more frequented, though still very restricted, it is reported.

Barley growers who have held onto grain this season hoping for a price rise are likely to be disappointed, as buyers remain cautious in the face of the global financial crisis, The Stock Journal posted on January, 14.

In the first year of the fully deregulated grain market, many farmers chose to either hold grain on-farm or warehouse it, and then look at their options later.

But ultimately, the decision by producers to hold onto grain, especially feed barley, taking a 'wait and see' approach to prices may reduce some bottom lines, experts maintain.

ABB barley trader Adam Wilkinson said there had been a lot of feed barley warehoused in South Australia.

"There is a lot more feed barley on world market than last season, particularly out of the Ukraine and European Union, which is keeping prices low," he said.

"Because of the global financial crisis people aren't buying big volumes."

Mr Wilkinson said the price of malting barley had dropped AU$40-AU$50 a tonne in the last three weeks. "There had been a high premium for malt over feed barley," he said.

"We were looking at prices of AU$300/t for malt and AU$160/t for feed. The spread is normally AU$20 to AU$30/t and it is now ...More Info

According to Don Tubbs, brewing manager for the Mendocino Brewing Co, the fact that a bumper crop came in last year didn't help alleviate the high costs of the hops due to advance purchase of the crops, The Ukiah Daily Journal communicated on January, 15.

"We contracted in 2007 for the 2008 crop and so we didn't know how it was going to turn out at that time," he said. "Most breweries do that. They'll contract out three years in advance. Some of them do it 10 years."

Last year's increase in the cost of hops was due in large part to a warehouse fire and a higher demand in Asia and India for hops, while at the same time the U.S. was reducing its acreage dedicated to growing hops, Tubbs said.

And though the price of hops was the most dramatic increase, many other items necessary in the creation of beer have also seen a price hike, such as glass, chemicals and boxes.

"It's affecting the price of making beer big time," said Tubbs.

With the prices so high, Mendocino Brewing Co. contracted out only the 2008 year, so that another contract with different prices can be negotiated for 2009.

"It's looking pretty good," ...More Info

Arja Laitila, Erja Kotaviita, Petri Peltola, Silja Home and Annika Wilhelmson

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 113(1), 9–20, 2007 The present study was carried out to investigate the impacts of bacterial and fungal communities on grain germination and on the malting properties of good-quality two-row barley. In order to suppress the growth of bacterial and/or fungal communities, various antibiotics were added to the first steeping water of barley. This study was also designed to explore the dynamics of the bacterial community in the malting process after antimicrobial treatments by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The diverse microbial community played an active role in the malting ecosystem. Even previously undescribed bacterial species were found in the malting ecosystem. Suppression of the bacterial community mainly consisting of Gram-negative bacteria was advantageous with respect to grain germination and wort separation. In addition, more extract was obtained after antibacterial treatments. The fungal community significantly contributed to the production of microbial beta- glucanases and xylanases, and was also involved in proteolysis. An improved understanding of the complex microbial community and its role in malting enables a more controlled process management and the production of high quality malt with tailored properties. Key words: Bacteria, barley, fungi, malt quality, malting, PCRDGGE.
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