Japan’s beer shipments fell 2.1% to 472.51 million cases in 2009, Dow Jones reported on January, 14.

The volume marked the fifth-straight year of decline. A shrinking population and weak economy continued to pull down domestic demand, while changing consumer tastes and poor weather during the peak summer season also dragged on beer sales.

Asahi Breweries Co. managed to maintain the top spot in domestic market share by shipping 177.2 mln cases in 2009 (37.5%). Kirin Holdings Co., with sales of 176.8 mln cases, had a 37.4% share of Japan’s beer market.

Suntory Holdings Ltd. retained third position in market share with 12.3%, followed by Sapporo Holdings Ltd. with 11.7%.

Shipments refer to the volume of beer on which tax authorities impose a liquor tax. One case is equivalent to 12.66 litres of beer.

Danish brewer Carlsberg had a good year in 2009 by focusing on costs, Chief Executive Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen was quoted as saying by the Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin magazine on January, 15.

"We have had a really good year, but with a somewhat different agenda that has been more focused on costs than on bringing a lot of new products to the market," Rasmussen said.

His remarks preceded the company's full-year results due on Feb. 23.

A 200 percent increase in beer excise taxes in the important Russian market from Jan. 1 poses a new challenge for Carlsberg, the world's fourth biggest brewer and market leader in Russia.

"In the short term, this will be negative," Rasmussen said. "The market will be negatively affected when this big tax is imposed regardless of our price strategy."

"The total (Russian) market will fall in terms of volume in 2010 - by more than it would otherwise," he said, according to the magazine.

He declined to spell out how Carlsberg would deal with the Russian tax hike, but indicated that price increases could not be avoided, the magazine said.

"But with the operations we have, the brands we have and the strengths that we have, I think we can take market share ...More Info

Efes Breweries International N.V. (“EBI” or “the Company”) announced on January, 13 its sales volume figures for the year ended 31.12.2009.

In FY2009, EBI’s consolidated sales volume was 13.6 mln hl, indicating a decline of 3.1% compared to the previous year.

Organic sales volume (By excluding i) January – February 2009 sales volume of JSC Lomisi in Georgia, which EBI acquired in February 2008 and started full consolidation starting from March 1st 2008, ii) the sales volume of Efes Serbia, which is excluded from EBI’s financials after the end of 1H2008) declined by 2.2% in the period.

Despite continued challenges in the operating geography, the consolidated sales volumes in the last quarter of 2009 decreased only slightly by 0.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. This was achieved through focused, innovative and memorable but cost effective marketing activities leading EBI to outperform the operating markets, as well as the low base of last year, the Netherlands-based international division of Turkey’s Anadolu Efes said.

In Russia, EBI’s FY2009 sales volume was 10.7 mln hl, indicating a decline of 3.6% over the previous year.

Resulting from the global financial crisis, pressures on consumer demand in Russia continued in the last quarter of ...More Info

Asahi Breweries said on January, 15 its total beer sales dropped last year by 2.8% to 2.24 mln kl (or 177.2 mln cases).

The company’s domestic beer sales totalled 1.53 mln kl, down 6.4% on 2008. Sales of happoshu (low-malt beer) declined by 13.4% to 319 thousand kl, whereas sales of malt-based new genre brews grew by 29.7% to 391 thousand kl.

In December 2009, Asahi’s beer sales showed a slight increase of 0.3% to 271 thousand kl as compared to the same month in 2008.

The brewer’s popular Clear Asahi brand continued to enjoy consumers’ demand in 2009 (+36.9 in the full year, and + 25.9% in December). Sales of Style Free beer increased by 3% in the full year and by 3.3% in December.

Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes said on January, 14 its total beer sales volume in the year to December 31, 2009 fell by 1.9% to 22.1 mln hl.

The brewer’s fourth quarter total beer sales volume declined by 1.7%.

In FY2009, Anadolu Efes’ sales volume of its Turkey beer operations reached 8.5 mln hl, with 0.5% growth in domestic market compared to the previous year.

The company said domestic sales volume declined by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, in line with its expectations, due to the high base of previous year as well as the first time effect of smoking ban and inventory management.

Despite the macro economic challenges and higher prices to reflect excise tax increase in April, Turkey beer operations managed to grow its sales volume in 2009 over the previous year by the contribution of the initiatives to increase availability and visibility of beer in Turkey through effective marketing activities, Anadolu Efes said.

Anadolu Efes’ international beer operations are conducted by Efes Breweries International N.V.(“EBI”), incorporated in the Netherlands and listed on the London Stock Exchange. EBI is a 73.5% subsidiary of Anadolu Efes and currently manages 9 breweries and 4 malting plants in 4 countries. In addition EBI is the ...More Info

Heineken NV, the brewer that agreed to buy Mexico’s second-largest beer producer, will increase its share in that market in part by pushing the flagship Heineken brand, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois van Boxmeer was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on January, 12.

“It has been submitted to a slight erosion and that pattern should be reversed,” Van Boxmeer said in an interview. “The brands are very strong.”

Amsterdam-based Heineken, which sells 25,000 hectolitres of its namesake brand annually in Mexico, agreed earlier this week to buy the beer unit of Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB in an all-stock transaction worth about $7.7 billion.

FEMSA Cerveza, the acquired unit, is second to Grupo Modelo SAB in the country. Its third-quarter market share fell to 42 percent from 44 percent a year earlier, while Modelo rose to 58 percent from 56 percent. FEMSA Cerveza sold 27.4 million hectolitres of beer in Mexico in 2008, the latest data available. It is also Brazil’s third-largest beer maker.

Heineken will use FEMSA Cerveza’s distribution to 350,000 outlets to push the Heineken brand, Boxmeer said. He declined to estimate sales growth for the Heineken brand in Mexico.

The company expects to achieve cost savings of 150 million euros ($217 million) over five ...More Info

Dutch brewer Heineken announced earlier this week it would close its facility in Romania’s western province of Hateg, consolidating production in its four other breweries in the country, Brewers’ Guardian reported on January, 14.

“The decision to transfer production from Hateg Brewery to the company’s other breweries has been taken after a very thorough review of all options, with the interest of the whole company, and all its employees in mind,” said Heineken Romania general manager Jan Derck van Karnebeek.

Heineken has pledged to provide “substantial financial compensation” to the 98 workers facing unemployment as a consequence of the closure, as well as training and support in applying for available EU funds.

The plant plant was commissioned in 1978 and is home to Heineken’s Hategana brand, with excess capacity occasionally being used to produce the Bucegi and Golden Brau brands. Production will be taken over in the Miecurea Ciuc, Targa Mures, Craiova and Constanta plants.

Heineken’s Total Cost Management programme has resulted in a spate of brewery closures across Europe in recent months. Last September the axe fell on three Romanian malting plants.

Van Karnebeek added: “We are here to stay, to further invest in our business and brands ...More Info

UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs released on January, 12 their final estimates of UK cereals and oilseeds production for 2009.

There has been only a minor alteration to the estimated barley area to put total production at 6.77 mln tonnes, 22 thousand tonnes higher than first estimates and 0.63 mln tonnes higher than 2008.

The average yield is unchanged at 5.8 t/ha, slightly lower than 6.0 t/ha in 2008, with the highest regional yield in Yorkshire and the Humber at 6.4 t/ha (previously estimated at 6.2 t/ha).

Michal Kurec, Martin Baszczynski, Radek Lehnert, André Mota, José A. Teixeira and Tomáš Brányik

J. Inst. Brew. 115(3), 253–258, 2009 ABSTRACT
An expeditious method of yeast age estimation was developed based on selective bud scar staining (Alexa Fluor 488-labelled wheat-germ agglutinin) and subsequent fluorescence intensity measurement by flow cytometry. The calibration curve resulting from the cytometric determination of average bud scar fluorescence intensities vs. microscopically counted average bud scar numbers of the same cell populations showed a good correlation and allowed routine cell age estimation by flow cytometry. The developed method was applied for yeast age control in traditional batch and continuous beer fermentations. At the pitching rates used in industrial beer fermentations, our results support former findings by locating a gradient of increasing yeast age from the top to the bottom zone of the fermenter cone. The results also indicate that in continuous beer fermentation, the increasing bud scar fluorescence of immobilized cells could help to schedule the replacement of aged biomass, prior to loss of viability or deterioration of process performance and product quality. Key words: aging, beer, bud scar, flow cytometry, staining, yeast.
Load full article, 6 pages, 557kb , PDF file