Global beer consumption grew 1.2% in 2008 from 2007 to 178.06 million kiloliters, breaking the record for the 23rd straight year, Kirin Holdings Co communicated on December, 21.

By region, Asia became the world’s biggest beer-consuming area for the first time with 56.43 million kl, up 3%, overtaking the Europeans who drank 54.85 million kl, down 0.8%.

China, which accounted for a 40.82 million-kl portion of the Asian consumption, took the top slot on the world’s beer-drinking countries’ ranking list for the sixth consecutive year.

Japan was Asia’s second-largest beer consumer with 6.11 million kl.

AmBev, Latin America’s largest brewer and division of world’s No. 1 brewer AB InBev, has a positive outlook for 2010 as Brazil’s economic growth quickens and the World Cup soccer tournament boosts beer sales during the nation’s winter, Chief Financial Officer Nelson Jamel was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on December, 21.

“The World Cup allows us to have a month of summer, where we sell more, in the middle of winter,” Jamel said. “Especially if Brazil gets to the final, this always has a positive effect on our industry.”

Brazilian beer sales typically are higher between September and March, the hottest months in Brazil, than during the winter season, when temperatures fall. Jamel said soccer fans in the South American country are likely to buy more beer from the maker of Brahma, Bohemia and Antarctica as they watch the games, which take place in South Africa in June and July.

Brazil’s recovery from a recession and an increase in disposable income will also increase sales of beer and sodas, he said.

The only risk for the next year’s beer sale is the possibility of Brazil’s government increasing taxes on drinks, Jamel added.

Changes in tax regulations this year resulted in a 15 percent ...More Info

Belgian speciality beer maker Duvel's positive first-half trend continued through the remainder of the year, Chief Executive Michel Moortgat was quoted as saying by Belgian business daily De Tijd on December, 23.

According to Mr. Moortgat, the brewery has largely resisted the downtrend in core markets other than the United States.

"Despite the difficult economic context people have not abandoned our product. We will reach our profit and turnover forecast for 2009," Moortgat said.

Duvel has forecast that turnover and profit should rise in the second half. In the first half, turnover increased by 11.4 percent and operating profit by 20 percent.

The company received some 43 percent of its turnover from outside Belgium last year, a figure that rose to 45 percent in the first half of 2009.

"In two years the foreign turnover will be larger than the domestic," Moortgat said, adding that Duvel had ambitious plans for sales to France, the Netherlands and Britain.

The downturn in the United States had impacted exports.

"The U.S. is confronted with 10 percent unemployment and that is unusual. It is also a country that, with its specific social system, reacts more sharply -- in both directions," he said.

Duvel has felt the impact of higher malt and hop ...More Info

Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. announced on December, 18 it will buy six plants in China, Thailand, and other parts of Asia through group firm San Miguel Brewery Inc.

Kirin will spend around US$300 million to acquire the breweries by next month from the Philippine unit's parent, San Miguel Corp.

Two of the breweries are in China's Hebei and Guangdong provinces. The others are in Bangkok; Hong Kong; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Nha Trang, Vietnam. They produce mainly the San Miguel and San Mig Light brands, boasting a combined output capacity of 650,000 kl.

The move will give Kirin production bases in the booming Asian market and pave the way for exports to the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern nations, experts said.

The fire that broke out in an empty building at Diageo's Guinness brewery in Dublin on Monday December, 21 but was put out within hours did not affect production, the company was quoted as saying by Reuters on the same day.

Fire crews were called at about midday and put out the blaze after 3-1/2 hours, a company spokeswoman said.

"The fire broke out during routine repairs to the roofing area of an infrequently used and currently vacant building," the company, one of the world's biggest alcoholic drinks groups, said in a statement.

"This part of the brewery was evacuated, no personnel were injured and brewing production was not affected."

Dublin Fire Brigade says it took 15 units about three hours to bring the flames under control. Two firefighters were in stable condition at the nearby St. James Hospital after inhaling what colleagues suspected was ammonia gas.

Ukraine’s beer output dropped by 7% in January – November this year as compared to the same period in 2008, Reuters communicated on December, 21.

The nation’s beer production amounted to just 28 mln hl over the reporting period due to a falling demand and increased excises, the State Committee of Statistics of Ukraine said.

In November 2009, Ukrainian brewers produced 1.72 mln hl of beer, which is 16.6% less than in October and 4.7% less than in November 2008.

As from July 1, the Vekhovna Rada of Ukraine increased excises on beer to UAH0.54 per litre. In October, the retail price of beer grew by 32% yoy.

Ukrainian brewers fear the government will try to increase the excise rate again in 2010.

As the industry is faced with a strong reduction of barley production in the coming year, EU brewers have accepted that fact and pay EUR 30,- to 40,- per ton of malt more for deliveries in 2011 than for old crop deliveries in 2010, industry observers communicated earlier this month.

However, there are brewers who consider the difference between crop years too high and expect lower prices for the coming campaign. They point to large carry-over stocks from the good quality crop of 2009, which will keep pressure upon the price levels of the 2010 crop.

We must wait for spring to see the real number of spring barley plantings, but most present estimates forecast tight barley supplies, which would justify the firmer barley markets, experts said.

Leading Australian grain handler GrainCorp issued on December, 22 an earnings update and grain receival range for the 2010 financial year.

The company expects to receive 7 million to 8.5 million tonnes of grain in 2010. The amount delivered so far is 6.3 million tonnes, it said.

GrainCorp said EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) may be between A$180 million and A$210 million in the 12 months ending September 30, 2010.

The outlook for GrainCorp Malt contribution to Group EBITDA range is set at A$100 to A$120 million.

GrainCorp Managing Director Mr Mark Irwin said the company’s malt assets will be running at around 95% capacity to meet its 14th November 2009 - 30th September 2010 projected malt sales volumes of between 920,000 to 950,000 tonnes.

Construction of the new Arbroath malt house is complete and has commenced producing its second batch of malt. The new malt house at Pinkenba is progressing well, GrainCopr reported.

“There are several important markets we are unable to fully supply with our current capacity. The new capacity at Arbroath and Pinkenba will allow us to meet this demand,” Mr. Irwin said.

It is going to take a while to clear the malting barley market before we can see an increase in prices, as stocks of the commodity are very high in the US and in the world, Marvin Zutz, executive director of the Minnesota Barley Growers Association, was quoted as saying by Farm & Ranch Guide on December, 19.

“Hopefully this spring, when commodities start competing for acres, we will see a resurgence in prices. But until that time the prices are going to be pretty flat, both for malting and feed barley classes,” Mr. Zutz said.

Ultimately the direction of the barley markets may be set by what happens down in South America, Zutz noted. If Brazil and Argentina have short soybean and corn crops that could give a boost to those markets, which in turn could put upward pressure on the wheat and barley markets. However, with good crops in South America that support for the markets in the U.S. might not develop, he claims.

The maltsters are currently offering contracts for the 2010 growing season, but Zutz said they are soft in the contracts that are now being offered.

“There are new contracts available and they are based on the wheat futures ...More Info

The CWB released on December, 17 its latest Pool Return Outlook (PRO) for the 2009-10 crop year.

Feed barley values remained unchanged from the last forecast, and malting barley values are up C$3 per tonne (to C$211 per tonne of selected two-row, and to C$193 per tonne of selected six-row malting barley).

Malting barley prices have gained some support from several factors since the November PRO, the CWB commented. The Australian barley crop, although larger than last year, has experienced several weather events that have caused downgrading. This will limit the availability of high quality malting barley from Australia. The USDA forecasts Australian barley production at 8.3 million tonnes, an increase of 700,000 tonnes.

During the past several months, China has maintained steady purchases of malting barley but remains a very price-sensitive buyer with many end users willing to switch to lower-quality domestic and imported barley if prices for higher-quality imports rise. Chinese purchases have been price supportive and helped offset the slow demand recovery in Europe and North America caused by the recession. However, forward demand remains uncertain.

Higher anticipated levels of malting barley carry out in Europe are also weighing on the international market. Global malting barley trade is forecast ...More Info

Mei Li, Zhaoxia Yang, Mei Yang, Lianju Shan and Jianjun Dong

J. Inst. Brew. 115(3), 226–231, 2009 ABSTRACT
Furfural is a sensitive indicator of beer staling. A new solidphase extraction (SPE) column PEP-SPE (Polar-Enhanced Polymer, 500 mg/6 mL) was used to develop a method for extraction of furfural from beer. The PEP-SPE column retains furfural with higher selectivity than the commonly used C18-SPE column. Satisfactory precisions were obtained with %RSD (n = 6) less than 2.2% for peak areas. Recovery rates were in the range of 99.7–100.1% due to the simple treatment and good resolution. The detection limit was 5 μg/L. Furfural concentration ranged from 10 to 32 μg/L in twelve fresh beer samples. A noticeable increase in furfural content was found after beer samples were kept at 35°C for seven days. The calculated correlation coefficient between taste panel scores for beer freshness and the furfural content of aged beer samples was –0.65, which showed a good inverse correlation between freshness marks and furfural content.

Key words:
beer freshness, furfural, HPLC, SPE.
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