1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there are three OFFERS for 4500 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 500-2000 mtons of malt, 2RS, crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/6/2003 - 30/9/2003, at EUR 288.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF0204P1215)
  
  
• Offer for 800-2000 mtons of malt, ASIA MALT 5/5 (2RS(50%) / 6RW(50%)), crop 2002, bulk, delivery 15/4/2003 - 31/8/2003, at EUR 283.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF0204P1206)
  
  
• Offer for 1-500 mtons of malt, 6RW Esterel, crop 2002, Bags in container, delivery 1/4/2003 - 30/6/2003, at USD 372.00 /mton, CIF Ho Chi Minh. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF0204P1151)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Chilean brewer CCU has announced it would receive a 19.7 billion pesos ($27.1 million) extraordinary profit from the sale of assets in Croatian brewer Karlovacka Pivovara... Click here
  
  
• Chinese brewer Tsingtao purchased 40 breweries in the country during the last 4 years... Click here
  
  
• The Indian brewer, United Breweries Ltd. (UB) intends to purchase 35% stake in Associated Breweries & Distilleries (ABD)... Click here
  
  
• On April 02, France abrogated the special tax on strong beers, backing down after Belgian brewers complained... Click here
  
  
• The volumes of beer output in Russia decreased by 6.3% for the first two months of the current year compared to the same period of the previous year... Click here
  
  
• It had been known for some time that EU malting plants could not profit at all from the crop disasters in Canada and Australia ... Click here
  
  
• The demand for malt of Russian beer makers comes to 1 million ton per year, according to the Russian Beer Union ... Click here
  
  
• In January this year Ukraine produced 13,254 tons of malt against 15,137 tons in December last year ... Click here
  
  
• Earlier EU grain crop forecasts, trimmed somewhat due to winter damage, mainly in France and Germany ... Click here
  
  
• France: ONIC estimate of March 3 puts the winter barley acreage at 1,096 Mill. tons, 5,9 % below last year ... Click here
  
  
• Average-weighted price for 3rd class barley, spot, EXW (elevator), on the trades of Ukrainian commodity exchanges in the period March 20 to 26 increased 2.3% ... Click here
  
  

More news is available on site www.e-malt.com  

• In January this year Ukraine exported 255,000 tonnes of barley, which is by 32,000 tonnes or 11% les than the month before ...more info



• Colombian brewer Bavaria aims to buy up to 2.73 million class "A" common shares in Peruvian beer producer Backus at $27 each, a Bavaria company official reported in a statement ...more info



• The brewer, Guinness, part of the UK-based conglomerate, Diageo, is undertaking a major review of its business in Ireland, which is expected to result in job losses ...more info



• The Zimbabwe-based company, Delta Corporation Limited, has merged its breweries National Breweries and Chibuku Breweries with United Bottlers into the new Delta Beverages company ...more info



• Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its preliminary 'A+' senior unsecured debt rating to Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s $2 billion Rule 415 shelf registration for debt securitie ...more info



• Norwegian brewery, Ringnes AS, a Carlsberg's subsidiary, has extended the deadline for its decision on which of the four breweries in the country it will have to close, from May 1 ...more info



• The Czech brewer, Budejovicky Budvar, has decided to appeal the recent verdict in Sweden in the legal battle with arch-rival Anheuser-Busch, which basically ended in a tie ...more info



• The EU Commisison has been asked to investigate whether Denmark gives its brewers and border shops indirect government subsidies by giving the brewers a refund for ...more info



• The Belgium-based brewing force, Interbrew, has posted on April 1st, 2003 an unambiguous repot about market speculation on Brau & Brunnen ...more info



• Tsingtao Brewery Co., the Chinese biggest brewing conglomerate, has reported a 166% rise of its net profit for the year to the end of December 2002 ...more info



• The Australasian beer group, Lion Nathan, has confirmed it is expecting to post a 10% rise of net profit for the first half of the fiscal year, ended on March 31st ...more info




2. Brewery News

Chilean brewer CCU has announced it would receive a 19.7 billion pesos ($27.1 million) extraordinary profit from the sale of assets in Croatian brewer Karlovacka Pivovara to Dutch beer maker Heineken, Reuters reported. CCU held a 50% stake in the Southern Breweries Establishment (SBE) which in turn controlled 68% of Karlovacka Pivovara. SBE said it had closed the sale of its controlling stake in the Croatian brewery to Heineken for EUR 82.5 million ($89.1 million), which it announced in January. CCU Director Patricio Jottar said in a statement that the extraordinary profit would be reflected in its first quarter results this year. The sale is the latest in a series of complex asset and ownership shifts involving the Chilean brewer. In January Chilean financial and industrial conglomerate Quinenco announced it had settled a two-year legal dispute with German brewer Schorghuber over the control of CCU. ($1 = 726 Chilean pesos)

Chinese brewer Tsingtao purchased 40 breweries in the country during the last 4 years. Now the group owns 47 plants in 17 provinces. In 2002 Tsingtao held 12.5% of Chinese beer market versus 11% in 2001.

The Indian brewer, United Breweries Ltd. (UB) intends to purchase 35% stake in Associated Breweries & Distilleries (ABD), the Mumbai-based beer and drinks group, India’s media revealed. After the acquisition United Breweries will own 100% shares of ABD. UB has been owning the 65% in ABD since November 2000. UB might pay R150m for the additional 35% stake.

On April 02, France abrogated the special tax on strong beers, backing down after Belgian brewers complained it would unfairly discriminate against their potent beverages, Reuters reported. The French finance ministry had planned to hike tenfold taxes (up to EUR 2) on beers with an alcohol content of over 8.5%. "The levy was justified by public health considerations," according to a statement. "But European Union rules ban any discrimination against products from other member states". The tax would have hurt about 25 Belgian brewers, including those behind the potent Chimay, Westmalle and Rochefort brands. The strongest among them has about 12% alcohol. Although its effect would have been marginal for Interbrew, the brewer of such global brands as Stella Artois and Beck's, it threw its support behind the small brewers...more info

The volumes of beer output in Russia decreased by 6.3% for the first two months of the current year compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the data of Goscomstat of Russian Federation. “These are the first results of the unreasonable excise and fiscal policy of the government regarding the beer branch,” the Union of Russian Brewers reported. The Government of Russian Federation increased the excise tax on beer by 25% with effect from January 01, 2003. The Union considers the “premature” indexing of excise rate on beer damaged not only the brewers but also the state budget, which could have received 20% more taxes from the brewers, if the excise tax hadn’t been increased.

3. Malt News

It had been known for some time that EU malting plants could not profit at all from the crop disasters in Canada and Australia. And sales for 2003 to Brazil, Japan and Russia were smaller than in the year before. When the long general strike hit Venezuela and shipments to Eastern Europe were hindered by ice in the Baltic Sea, stocks started to build up in factories and in seaports. Poor call-offs in Germany fueled the crisis.

The demand for malt of Russian beer makers comes to 1 million ton per year, according to the Russian Beer Union. 70% of malt is imported – mainly from Europe. Last year imported volumes of malt are estimated at US$ 300 million, Veacheslav Mamontov, the secretary of the Russian Beer Union said. Russian brewery Baltika announced recently about its plans to build its own malting plant. Mr. Bolloev, the Baltika’s CEO said the plant will be based in Tula. The company intends to invest about US$32 million. The planned production capacity is 100 thousand tons per year. New plant is expected to start producing malt by 2004 year and will cover the whole company’s request for malt, according to Bolloev. Till now Baltika was provided with 70% of malt by Souflet Malting Plant St. Petersburg, which has a production capacity of 105 thousand tons per annum...more info

In January this year Ukraine produced 13,254 tons of malt against 15,137 tons in December last year. In 2002 Ukraine produced 173,301 tons of malt, which is by 5,679 tons or 3.3% more that in 2001. Demand of Ukrainian brewery plants in malt in 2002 was about 217,000 to 218,000 tons. 44,219 tons of malt were imported and 800 tons - exported. According to a top official from CJSC Ukrpyvo (Ukrainian bear) Ms. Koren'kova, demand of Ukrainian enterprises in malt in 2003 is expected at about 225,000 tonnes. The country will import 8,000 to 9,000 tons of caramel malt.

4. Barley News

Earlier EU grain crop forecasts, trimmed somewhat due to winter damage, mainly in France and Germany, will lead to an increase of the spring barley acreage. “Strategie Grains” expects a barley crop of 50 Mill. tons for the EU.

France: ONIC estimate of March 3 puts the winter barley acreage at 1,096 Mill. tons, 5,9 % below last year. This already includes some or all losses due to winterkill. Estimates are that 100,000 ha of Esterel barley are lost and must be reseeded. Spring barley has been planted; the acreage is around 600.000 ha versus 480,000 ha last year. Light rains by the end of March ended a month’s long dryness.

Average-weighted price for 3rd class barley, spot, EXW (elevator), on the trades of Ukrainian commodity exchanges in the period March 20 to 26 increased 2.3% compared with the previous period (March 13 to 19) - up to 480 hryvnais per ton, reported Ukrainian AgriMarket info quoting the national association of Ukrainian exchanges. AgriMarket said the association embraces 35 agricultural exchanges, of which 27 have authorization to register export contracts. Official rate of hryvnia as of March 31 was 5.3345 hryvnias/$1.