China’s Tsingtao brewery made public its second half and full 2008 results on April, 8.

The company’s second-half profit rose 17.8% on solid revenue growth, despite high raw material prices and intense competition. According to a company statement, July-December net profit rose to 318.4 million yuan ($46.58 million) from 270.25 million yuan a year earlier.

Full-year net profit was 699.6 million yuan against 538.9 million yuan in 2007.

The six-month result came almost in line with analysts' forecasts for 320.8 million yuan based on an average full-year forecast of 701.95 million yuan from 16 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Full-year sales revenues rose 16.6 percent to 15.8 billion yuan.

In 2008, the company sold 5.38 million kiloliters of various brews, up 6.6 percent from 2007. The growth rate was 1.2 percentage points higher than the industry average.

More importantly, Tsingtao succeeded in expanding its market share to 13.24 percent in 2008 from 12.86 percent in 2007 at the expense of its competitors when overall demand was shrinking.

China's total beer sales declined last year, as the financial crisis, snowstorm and earthquake hurt demand. The output volume nationwide was 41.03 million kiloliters, up by 5.4 percent year-on-year, the lowest growth rate in the past three years.

Tsingtao, China’s #2 ...More Info

InBev Romania cannot expect sales growth of more than 10% this year, for each of its brands, given that the growth estimates of the beer market do not exceed 3%, general manager Eduardo Luz was quoted as saying by Ziarul Financiar on April, 9.

"The market will not see a double digit growth and I do not think it is realistic to expect such growth from any brand this year," stated Eduardo Luz, general manager of InBev Romania, the third leading player in the industry.

Mr. Luz believes the habits of beer consumers will change as a result of the economic crisis, with many set to buy fewer beer brands, and likely to go out to drink less often, preferring to have a drink at home instead.

"We are seeing many consumers that are moving from alcoholic beverages to beer now. At the same time, beer drinkers who used to buy several brands until recently will allocate money for only one brand," he said.

Luz says that the best-selling brand in the company’s portfolio is Bergenbier, a brand that generates half of the company’s sales, followed by Noroc and Beck’s.

Besides these brands, InBev also sells Lowenbrau, Stella Artois, Leffe and the Hoegaarden white beer ...More Info

Wilbur Ross, the master of distress buyouts, has emerged as a strong contender to acquire the troubled Cobra Beer, The India Times cited two people close to the situation on April, 9.

The billionaire investor, who has recently been active in India, is looking to either buy the Cobra Beer brand or take a controlling interest in the beermaker’s Indian unit. This comes even as North American brewer Molson Coors is showing up for Cobra Beer’s European operations, mainly centered around the UK market.

Wilbur Ross & Co is believed to be exploring a partnership with alcoholic beverage industry veteran Ravi Jain for acquiring the Cobra Beer stake.

ET had reported in its edition dated January 20 that Mr Jain, who is emerging from a three-year no-compete arrangement with the UB chairman Vijay Mallya, may be interested in Cobra Beer.

Standard Chartered private equity is also holding talks, but it is not clear whether it is bidding for the entire business or only the India part of Cobra Beer.

The privately held Cobra Beer could be valued at $150-200 million. But the figures will depend on how the deal is structured - whether the company will be sold as one going concern or split ...More Info

The global economic crisis has reduced consumer spending to variable degrees, analysts commented earlier this month.

Russia and Ukraine report lower food and beer sales. In the EU food consumption has hardly been affected, but lower attendance of bars and restaurants has hit the premium segment of the beer and liquor business. In the brewery sector medium size enterprises report serious difficulties, while sales of cheaper beers for home consumption are thriving.

North America enjoys a steady beer market, Central and South American production and sales are still growing, albeit at low rates, much less than forecast a year ago. The same is true for Africa and Southeast Asia.

China reports a stunning growth figure of 12.9 % in January/February of this year. Both the general decline of the beer market and the change towards no-malt beers continue in Japan.

On average beer sales may not have dropped much yet, but they are far below earlier optimistic projections and have led to a burdensome “supply chain management” situation for many brewers including all large international groups, experts said.

Kirin Brewery Co replaced Asahi Breweries Ltd as the leader of Japan’s market for beer and beer-like alcoholic drinks in Q1 2009 for the first time in two years, Japan Today cited industry reports on April, 10.

Kirin boosted shipments of beer and beer-like alcoholic beverages in the quarter by 1.3% from a year earlier to 34.42 million cases, accounting for 37% of the top five Japanese brewers’ total shipments.

Japan’s total beer shipments declined 3.6% to 91.3 million cases over the first three months of this year, it is reported.

A new economic impact study shows America's beer industry directly and indirectly contributes more than $198 billion annually to the U.S. economy, PR Newswire communicated on April, 8.

The study, commissioned by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), also shows that the industry provides nearly 1.9 million jobs - generating nearly $62 billion in wages and benefits. The industry also paid $41 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes in 2008.

"America's brewing industry continues to play a pivotal role in supporting this nation's economic viability," said Tom Long, president and chief commercial officer of MillerCoors and chairman of the Beer Institute. "Brewers in all 50 states have been a driving force in their communities for years by creating jobs and tax revenue for public services and promoting alcohol awareness responsibility initiatives for retailers, schools, and families."

According to the study, the beer industry directly employs more than one million people, paying $28 billion in wages. Beer sales help support roughly 888,000 retail jobs, including those at supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, bars, stadiums, and other outlets and generate more than $25 billion in economic activity in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

"These numbers demonstrate that our industry is essential to several ...More Info

The multi-national Coca-Cola Bottling/Luanda has invested USD 70 million in the construction of a brewery dubbed "N'gola-Norte", in Funda, Luanda, allAfrica.com cited on April, 8 the chief executive officer of the institution, Samuel Jerónimo.

According to Mr. Jerónimo, of the amount that is part of the company's investments for 2009, USD60 million went for the construction of the infrastructure, five million - for bottles (initial phase), one million - for freezers to activate the market in the northern zone and three million went for other equipment.

He said the freezers which are silent vendors, have a specific value as they contribute to the trademark development, therefore as from June/July Coca-Cola Bottling will start producing N'gola beer from Luanda.

With the emergence of this new factory, the source said, Coca-Cola will have created 700 new jobs this year, 430 of which for N'gola/Norte plant and the others will work in the sectors of transport, logistics and finance.

China exported 314,000 tonnes of malt in 2008, industry observers reported earlier this month.

According to Cofco of Beijing, the Chinese malting capacity will increase from 4.6 to 5.26 mln tonnes in 2009. Production, however, is much lower, as many inland factories are not equipped with cooling systems for malting in summer, and others just work as per their order books.

Analysts estimate China’s domestic needs in 2009 to be 3.5 mln tons. Cofco and Supertime, the nation’s two largest malting companies, are expected to be very active in export markets. They have in their favour a steadily improving domestic barley supply, and a very low cost of malthouse construction, finance, labour and logistics, experts point out.

One thing must not be overlooked: in the past two years Chinese supplies were needed, irrespective of any price advantage, to fill the demand in some Asian countries, it is stated.

According to industry sources, the exports of the large barley origins since the beginning of the campaign are as follows:

EU’s barley exports are estimated at 3.137 mln tonnes (3.920 mln tonnes over the same period last crop year);

Russia is estimated to have exported 1.797 mln tonnes (against 1.040 mln in the last season);

Ukraine’s barley exports to date are about 5.564 mln tonnes (versus 1.037 mln tonnes last year);

Canada has exported just 940 thousand tonnes of barley since the beginning of the campaign (1.886 mln tonnes last year).

Markets at the end of the month were somewhat firmer than a month earlier following better equities, promises of the G-20 conference, disappointing U.S. acreage estimates and poor spring conditions in North America, experts report. However, they maintain that a basic turnaround of world markets is not in sight yet.

In the coming years, EU’s grain prices will grow again though will be much lower than the level registered in spring 2008, the European Commission stated in its report Prospects for Agricultural Markets and Income in the European Union 2008 – 2015, published in March.

EU barley production is projected to show a slower growth compared to the other cereals, reaching just above 60 mln tonnes by 2015. Domestic consumption, three quarters of which is destined for animal feed, is projected to grow at a faster pace. As a consequence exports and stocks are projected to decline slightly over the medium term.

According to the European Commission, the Union’s barley production is to shrink to 59 mln tonnes next year. The intervention stocks for barley, which are expected to reach 1 mln tonnes in 2009, will be set at zero as from 2010.

Many of the US maltsters have an adequate supply of barley on hand and are using those reserves rather than buying in the market right now, Randy Brag of Valley Grain Services in Casselton was quoted as saying by Farm & Ranch Guide on April, 9.

In these tight economic times they are deciding to not have their money tied up in barley reserves, he maintains.

As far as new crop contracts, most of them had their expectations filled so there isn't any pressure to move prices higher to lock in an adequate future supply of malting barley.

The one positive news item was the projected plantings issued by USDA on March 31 that indicated barley acreage in the U.S. would decline by 7 percent from last year. North Dakota growers are forecast to plant 6 percent few acres. But, given the present weather conditions, Brag expects those figures to shift somewhat before farmers make their final planting decisions.

“With the expected late planting dates in the state, we could see fewer acres planted to barley in the eastern part of North Dakota and more acres seeded in the western part,” he said. “

Spot cash prices being offered by elevators for malting barley are ...More Info

Stephen T. Russell, R. Paul Singh and Charles W. Bamforth

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 114(4), 349–356, 2008 Without consideration of feasibility from perspectives of quality, acceptability to producer or consumer or legal and taxation implications, we have explored the relative cost and environmental implications of new paradigms for the production of beer. An approach based on the flavouring of a purchased bland alcohol source is the most advantageous from this perspective, followed by one based on the in-house fermentation of a sugar syrup. When compared to the conventional process, these processes provide a range of 2.8 to 73.1% savings for the parameters analysed, which were energy and water usage, carbon dioxide production and effluent production. The largest savings are observed for the water usage parameter, while the smallest difference is seen for specific energy consumption. Key words: Brewing, carbon dioxide, comparison, cost, effluent, energy, new paradigms, water. Load full article, 8 pages, 1121 Kb, PDF file