Europe's highest court issued on September 8th a ruling that could end attempts by Czech state brewer Budejovicky Budvar to stop Belgian beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BT) - the brewer of the iconic Budweiser brand - using the brand name "Bud" in Austria, Dow Jones Newswires communicated.

It could also open the doors for AB InBev to challenge Budvar's trademarks in other countries.

Budvar, which has brewed Czech Budweiser beer since 1895, has registered the "Bud" or "Budweiser" trademarks in 37 countries, including Austria.

The Czech company brought a case before the Austrian court against the distributor of AB InBev's Budweiser beer, which was marketing "American Bud" in Austria.

The Austrian court sought advice from Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice. In its ruling Tuesday, the ECJ said the Austrian court must determine what sort of protection the Czech company's Austrian trademark accorded to "Bud."

If the trademark just relates the beer to the Czech Republic then its trademark can be protected, it said. But if the protection includes specific characteristics, like brewing conditions, ingredients or taste, then it will have no protection under Austrian law as this sort of protection is now provided under E.U.-wide law, it ...More Info

World’s major brewers are planning to raise beer prices in the coming months. Analysts, however, express doubts about the ability of some companies to implement these planned increases, while others point to the concentration of some markets, like the U.S., as a favourable factor to a more aggressive price policy.

During the first half of the year, the ability to impose higher prices or at least keep them in the levels of previous quarters helped compensate the impact of falling sales caused by the economic crisis.

In the U.S., MillerCoors InBev and AB - joint venture (partnership) between SABMiller and Molson Coors - are hoping to raise prices starting at the end of this month.

The total volume sold by the AB InBev, the parent of AmBev in Brazil fell 1.1% in the second quarter compared with same period of 2008.

Even in European markets, where concentration is lower than in the U.S., breweries seem to find room to think about new adjustments in the near future, although they also keep registering weak sales.

Namibia: SABMiller awarded brewing licence in Namibia

SABMiller plc announced on September 8th that it has been granted a license by the Namibian government to brew and bottle beer in Namibia.

Through the creation of a new subsidiary to be called SABMiller Namibia (pty) Ltd., the group plans to invest in the construction of a brewery at a site yet to be confirmed.

SABMiller has been importing beer into Namibia through Castle Brewing Namibia (CBN) for more than 20 years and has around 22% of the domestic market through brands such as Castle Lager, Carling Black Label, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Castle Lite.

Commenting on the decision, Cobus Bruwer, Managing Director of Castle Brewing Namibia, said: "The Namibian Government's decision to grant us this license is a milestone, as we have sought brewing rights in Namibia for the past decade. Once constructed, the development of a local plant will enable us to make our brands available in returnable bottles. When the plant is operational, we expect to contribute significantly to the Namibian economy."

SABMiller is one of the world's largest brewers with brewing interests and distribution agreements across six continents. The group's wide portfolio of brands includes premium international beers ...More Info

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd (Carlsberg Malaysia) said it is close to acquiring Carlsberg Singapore Pte Ltd (CSPL) for RM370 million cash.

It announced on September 8th that it had entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) to purchase all the equity shares in CSPL with Carlsberg Asia Pte Ltd (CAPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carlsberg Breweries A/S (CBAS).

Carlsberg Malaysia said the purchase price in CSPL will be financed by internally generated funds.

A circular to shareholders setting out the details of the proposed acquisition will be sent to the shareholders of Carlsberg Malaysia in due course, it added.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and is subject to approval by the shareholders of Carlsberg Malaysia at an extraordinary general meeting to be convened for the proposed acquisition.

In a statement, Carlsberg Malaysia chairman Datuk Lim Say Chong said the proposed acquisition and expansion in the region will benefit Carlsberg Malaysia strategically as "it is a good business fit, the beer market in Singapore is attractive and Carlsberg Singapore is a successful, well run and profitable company".

"In addition, the financial rationale for the proposed acquisition is justifiable as there are significant synergies to be realised, the investment ...More Info

Consumer sector-focused China Resources Enterprise, which posted a 22.2 percent fall in first-half profit, hopes to see growth in store sales in its supermarket operation in the second half, the company said on September 3, according to Reuters.

"We believe there will be a significant improvement (in store sales) in the second half, hopefully returning to positive territory," managing director Long Chen told reporters.

Chen said store sales in its supermarkets in China and Hong Kong fell about two percent in the first-half period. He said the company has no plan to seek a listing in the mainland.

China Resources said its profit for January-June fell to HK$1.16 billion, compared with HK$1.49 billion in the year-ago period, due to a decline in profits in its retail, food processing and distribution, and investment property, while its textile business was also took a hit in the global financial crisis.

Revenue increased to HK$35.05 billion in the six-month period, from HK$31.81 billion a year ago, of which the contribution from retail operations accounted for more than 54 percent of its revenue during the period under review.

"Future expansion will be carried out mainly through new store openings supplemented by same-store growth and mergers and acquisitions," chairman Qiao Shibo ...More Info

U.K. pub operator and brewer Greene King PLC reported on September 8th higher sales at its own pubs and higher brewing volumes, but said profit at its tenanted pubs is under pressure and it is still cautious about the outlook for the industry and economy, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

"The consumer recovery is fragile and there are numerous risks to current levels of consumer spending, particularly for the second half of our financial year, including rising unemployment and taxes, slowing wage growth and increasing debt repayments," the company said.

The U.K. pub industry has been in decline for several years as consumers drink less beer, particularly away from home, turn to continental-style bars when they do go out, and because of the ban on smoking in public places. Pubs have been closing at a fast rate, and the companies that run the pubs have had to close some operations and come up with new marketing ploys to keep customers.

Suffolk-based Greene King, which has brewed and owned pubs for over 200 years, has fared better than some rivals, focusing on producing traditional ales that remain popular with some drinkers and growing its own pub business through branding and offering ...More Info

Maltsters have reacted with a slowdown of production in most countries of the EU, but only two countries report official figures, analysts have recently commented.

The U.K. used a total of 1,672 Mill. tons of barley for malt production in 2008/09, a plus of 0,6 % versus the year before, but the June production dropped by 17,7 % to 131.800 tons. Germany started the production slowdown in April (minus 20.000 tons), continued in May (minus 19.000 tons) for a July/May total of 1.694 Mill. tons of malt, 44.000 tons less than in 2007/08.

Guesstimates are that malt production in the EU will drop by 10 % in 2009 or in the crop year 2009/10. Production stops are also reported from other continents. As Plato expects beer sales in 2009 to increase by 0,6 %, and decline in Europe by only 3 – 4 %, one conclusion must be that malt supply and demand will match again in the not too distant future.

A better than expected European Union malting barley harvest this summer means brewers will benefit from falling prices for a key ingredient in beer production, Reuters cited analysts and industry observers on September 9th.

Good malting barley crops are shaping up in France, Germany, Scandinavia and Britain.

"Malting barley prices are falling just about everywhere in Europe as it is becoming clear that the crop is larger than expected," one German trader said. "It is probably too early to say if beer prices will fall but lower barley prices will certainly be good for brewers' earnings."

Initial indications are that favourable summer weather helped boost yields and crop quality.

France, the EU's largest malting barley producer, should gather a total barley crop this year of 12.6 million tonnes, up 3 percent from a previous record in 2008, France's farm ministry estimates.

Analyst Strategie Grains expects 71 percent of the country's spring barley crop to be malt quality.

The large crop has sent French malting barley falling to around 100 euros a tonne, the same level as animal feed barley.

Malting barley is usually 30 to 40 euros a tonne more expensive than feed barley. "We're seeing the malting and feed barley markets merge into one," said Remi ...More Info

Markets are as low as can be in the last year of barley intervention in the EU, market experts reported on September 1st. Feed barley prices dropped to the low 90 Euros, exw interior France and Germany, because the intervention price of 101,31 is only available after the 1st of November, standard EU quality, delivered to intervention silos. Prices recovered somewhat in the wake of better markets for feed wheat and maize.

The circulating numbers of acreage reductions in 2010 go up to 30 % in some countries. Farmers are completely disillusioned with the financial results of malting barley production and will definitely turn to other, financially safer crops. For crop 2009 Danish 2rs barley, October, FOB seaport, is quoted EUR 115,-, U.K. 2rs barley in the same position EUR 112,-; German 2rs barley sells at attractive prices, EUR 115,- to 120,- delivered maltings, September – January.

The hop harvesting in the Czech Republic has reached its peak. Compared to the last year, the yield could go slightly below average; the quality, nevertheless, remains high. For the Czech hop farmers Pilsner Urquell is one of the most important purchasers - in the last year, for example, it processed 30 percent of Czech hops that was sold to national beer producers, SABMiller published on September 7. This year the hop supplies of Czech sorts, such as Žatecký poloraný červeňák, Sládek and Agnus, are already secured. In addition, Gambrinus master brewer, Jan Hlaváček, went out himself to hop fields to check the quality of this year's production.

Beer malting of the Czech beer sorts keeps consistently high above the world average. Thus, the specific dosage of hop in one hectolitre of beer amounts to 7.3 g alpha bitter acids. "The higher acerbity of beer and an intensive hop flavour resulting from the use of Czech hop sorts is a typical note of Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, and other Czech beers. Together they contribute to their rounded-up savour and make them extremely drinkable," says Gambrinus master brewer Jan Hlaváček.

- With the total amount of 10.7 million hectolitres (235.4 million gallons) sold in ...More Info

Filip Van Opstaele, Koen Goiris, Evelien Syryn, Luc De Cooman and Guido Aerts

Abstract:
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are an essential raw material for beer preparation, mainly on account of the typical bitterness and hoppy aroma of beer. A fine, harmonic, non-lingering bitterness and a pleasant hoppy aroma are key elements of high flavour quality and drinkability. However, by applying conventional hopping using pellets and/or non-isomerised extracts during wort boiling, the intensity and the quality of beer bitterness and, in particular, hoppy aroma are difficult to control. In this paper, high tech hopping, i.e. the use of highly advanced hop products containing bittering principles, hop aromas or hop polyphenols is discussed on the basis of practical brewing research carried out at KaHo-St.Lieven. The emphasis is put on the sensory aspects of different types of pre-isomerised hop extracts, hop aromas, and hop polyphenolic fractions. In respect of hop aromas, a novel hop aroma technology for the production of varietal total hop oils and highly enriched hop oil fractions with distinct organoleptic properties, is presented. It is concluded that fully advanced hopping, i.e. advanced bittering in combination with appropriate hop oil and hop polyphenol preparations, has high potential to improve beer drinkability due to enhanced control of bitterness intensity and quality, hoppy aroma, and mouthfeel, in accordance with the beer style, type, and brand. Descriptors: high tech hopping, drinkability, bitterness, hoppy aroma, hop polyphenols Cerevisia, 33(1) 2008 Load full article from site www.cerevisia.eu