E-Malt.com Flash 15a. April 11

Hong Kong: China Resources Snow Breweries Limited (or ‘CR Snow’), a subsidiary of China Resources Enterprise, Limited and a joint venture with SABMiller plc, announced on April 11 that it has entered into an agreement with the Fuyang City...more info

United Kingdom: Britain's Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (“W&DB” or “Wolves”) announced on April 11 it is in acquisition talks with brewer and pub owner Jennings Brothers. W&DB, which brews Marston's Pedigree ale, said it was considering a 430 pence-per-share offer for Jennings, which would value it at around 46 million pounds ($86 million). The 177-year-old northern brewer and pub operator Jennings brews beers such as Cumberland Ale and Cocker-Hoop, and also operates 128 pubs across northern England, 55 of them in the Lake District. W&DB said the estate would fit well with its own estate of 553 managed "Pathfinder Pubs" and its "Union Pub Company" of 1,582 leased pubs. W&DB said it would continue developing Jennings' brewery in Cockermouth, in the Lake District, which produces Cocker-Hoop and other beers including Crag Rat, Cumberland Ale and Cross Buttock, according to Reuters. "This should be viewed as a bolt-on acquisition that is in line with strategy, but our initial reaction to the price is that it is expensive," analyst Nigel Parson of Williams de Broe said in a research note entitled "Wolves & Dudley -- On the Prowl." W&DB has only recently finished digesting the 460-pub estate of smaller rival Burtonwood, which it agreed to buy in December for 119 million pounds. The pub sector has seen a string of deals in recent years, the latest major deal being Enterprise Inns' acquisition of Unique with 4,000 pubs last March. W&DB said it would try to safeguard as many jobs as possible at Jennings' Cockermouth brewery, which Bridgewell Securities estimated generated 18 percent of profits. W&DB Chief Executive Ralph Findlay said in a statement: "We believe our proposals will assist in the further development of the Jennings business and provide good opportunities for its lessees, beer brands and for employees." But Parsons of Williams de Broe sounded a note of caution over Wolves' commitment to the Jennings brewery. "This anticipates local opposition to the proposed deal but reduces synergy opportunities from closing the operation," he said. W&DB said it already received an irrevocable offer from Jennings' largest shareholder, Frederic Robinson Ltd, representing around a quarter of Jennings' shares. Shares in Jennings soared 27 percent to 413-1/2 pence by 0940 GMT. W&DB shares were flat at 1,131 pence, valuing the group at around 867 million pounds, Reuters commented.

Philippines & Japan: Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., Japan's second biggest brewer, announced on April 11 it had acquired 68.81 million shares of Manila-based food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp. for 10.1 billion yen...more info

Russia & Belgium: InBev S.A. ("InBev") and SUN Interbrew Ltd ("SUN Interbrew" or "SIL") announced on April 12 that, further to the announcement on 21 January 2005, InBev has launched on April 12 recommended offers of USD33.41 in cash...more info

China: Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. and Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. jointly announced on April 11 that Anheuser-Busch has increased its economic interest in Tsingtao to 27 % upon its conversion of all the remaining convertible bonds in Tsingtao. The Qingdao State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) remains the largest shareholder in Tsingtao, holding a 30.6 percent share. Anheuser-Busch is the largest non-government shareholder. The request by Anheuser-Busch to convert its remaining Tsingtao bonds (HK$1,135,395,342) to newly issued “H” shares of Tsingtao under the terms of the Strategic Investment Agreement with Tsingtao was approved by Tsingtao’s board today. 248,219,178 newly issued “H” shares of Tsingtao stock listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be issued to Anheuser-Busch. The total capital stock of Tsingtao will increase to 1,308,219,178 shares, 50 percent of which is “H” shares. With this conversion, Anheuser-Busch’s economic interest in Tsingtao increases from 9.9 to 27 percent. Based on the Strategic Investment Agreement between Anheuser-Busch and Tsingtao, the voting rights of 7 percent of the above-mentioned shareholding will be held by the SASAC on trust under a Voting Trust Agreement. Accordingly, Anheuser-Busch’s voting interest in Tsingtao will be 20 percent, and SASAC’s voting interest will be 37.6 percent. Anheuser-Busch retains full economic rights to its 27 percent economic stake. As a result of the increase in shareholding of Tsingtao, Anheuser-Busch will nominate one additional director to the Tsingtao Brewery board of directors, giving Anheuser-Busch two seats on Tsingtao’s board. “The shareholding and management structure of the company have been optimized after Tsingtao built a strategic relationship with Anheuser-Busch. The existing board and supervisory directors from Anheuser-Busch have brought new ideas on management to Tsingtao, improving management and technology of Tsingtao, helping the company to achieve the goal of internationalization,” said Li Guirong, the chairman of Tsingtao’s board...more info

Malt News

Germany: Russia has agreed to lift an import ban imposed in late November 2004 on German plant products including grain, Germany's Agriculture Ministry said on April 11. Germany and Russia signed an agreement over the weekend after talks in Berlin with Sergei Dankvert, head of Russia's veterinary inspection service, German junior Agriculture Minister Alexander Muller said in a statement. The ban is likely to be lifted on May 1, Muller said, according to Reuters. Russian customs authorities had banned imports of German grain, seeds, malt, hops, fruit and vegetables, in their unprocessed state, in a dispute about food safety.

EU: Licence bookings for EU-25 malt exports were 1.686 million tonnes during July 1, 2004-March 29, 2005...more info

Barley News

North America: Soil moisture levels in Canada are the best since many years. The acreage will be a little smaller than last year's, yields as well...more info

France & China: France is competing to become a regular long-term source of malting barley for China to meet the mounting demand from the nation's booming beer industry, China Daily communicated on April 11. "That will be a win-win situation for France, the world's largest malting barley producer, and China, the biggest brewer of beer in the world," said Jean-Jacques Vorimore, president of France Export Cereals. "China is witnessing a rapid growth of beer production and consumption. More importantly, a growing number of Chinese breweries are paying attention to the quality of barley as they try to develop medium and high-quality products. A stable supply of high-quality barley is where France excels," Vorimore said. Australia and Canada have been China's major sources of barley for almost a decade. French barley is usually imported when there is no more good-quality malting barley from these two countries, due to seasonal factors. Surging transportation costs and the falling dollar have made French barley more expensive in recent years, driving away many price-sensitive Chinese breweries. "We want to change that situation and become a regular supplier," said Vorimore at a recent seminar on French barley in Dalian, Liaoning Province. The seminar, held annually since 2002, drew more than 70 delegates from Chinese breweries and grain trading companies. French malting barley exporters are trying to lower their transportation costs by using containers to ship barley to China. Barley is usually transported in bulk. "Every year, a large number of containers shipping Chinese products to Europe are left idle or shipped back to China with nothing in them. Making full use of these containers will lower transportation costs by 3-5 per cent," Vorimore said. He added that France had signed contracts to ship 100,000 tons of malting barley to China by the end of last month. "Diversifying import sources is the key to ensuring a stable supply of malting barley to China as the nation's surging demand for malting barley cannot be stably and regularly guaranteed by any single region," said Jiang Guojin, general manager of COFCO's brewing materials division. China produced 29 million tonnes of beer last year, a year-on-year rise of 15.2 per cent, according to figures from the China National Food Industry Association. Jiang estimated 3.26 million tones of malting barley were consumed last year. Customs figures show China imported 1.62 million tons of barley in the first 11 months of last year, rising 24.3 per cent year-on-year.

Theoretical malt prices.

* - 70/30 = 70% Average Two Row Spring and 30% Six Row Winter
** - 50/50 = 50% Average Two Row Spring and 50% Six Row Winter

Theoretical malt prices for crop 2005 are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting barley prices. French barley prices.

Nominal prices.

nq - Not quoted
Prices for Danish and UK malting barley are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Barley Price Evolution

Canada Average Barley Price Evolution

Table of the week

EU Malt Export Licence Fixations:

(in tonnes)	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	July 01, 2004 - March 29, 2005
France	523,190	701,134	661,772	774,761	566,800
Germany	305,980	468,314	408,063	422,047	195,274
Belgium	277,584	296,368	287,850	317,292	305,908
U,K,	254,793	350,621	294,995	443,501	185,156
Finland	65,550	91,890	100,758	114,165	35,866
Denmark	52,326	96,812	94,791	90,452	39,994
Sweden	50,847	101,000	76,916	78,369	64,840
Netherlands	54,835	51,310	66,219	80,703	35,908
Ireland	26,003	35,145	31,140	38,900	56,924
Austria	4,850	8,840	8,620	60,211	7,521
Spain	3,000	2,400	5,640	10,000	-
Greece	1,800	1,744	1,306	979	130
Portugal	340	221	85	695	680
Italy	-	-	2	-	-
Total EU 15	1,621,098	2,205,799	2,038,157	2,432,075	1,495,001
New EU members				May-June, 04
Czech Republic				34,340	59,692
Poland				7,604	29,988
Hungary				2,830	50,279
Slovakia				1,000	51,138
Total EU 25	1,621,098	2,205,799	2,038,157	2,477,849	1,686,098

	Total Wheat malt, tonnes
Total 2000-2001	4,686
Total 2001-2002	12,805
Total 2002-2003	30,908
Total 2003-2004	15,768
July 01/2004 – March 29/2005	4,680

	Total Roasted malt, tonnes
Total 2000-2001	23,967
Total 2001-2002	23,480
Total 2002-2003	23,603
Total 2003-2004	24,438
July 01/2004 – March 29/2005	21,431

Graph of the week

Agenda

April 2005:
Helsinki Beer Festival;
Tour de Geuze 2005. Payottenland, Belgium;
FAB 2005 - BC Food & Beverage Conference. Vancouver, BC;
Grains Week 2005. Queensland, Australia;
Concise Course in Brewing Technology;
World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference 2005;
JOINT LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE. Washington, D.C., USA;
BEER. Exhibition Pavilion Minsk.;
Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America;
Classic City Brewfest, Athens, GA;
SOUTH-UKRAINIAN DAYS OF FOOD AND DRINKS;
SIBFOODEXPO, Siberian Beer. Novosibirsk;
SAMARA DRINKS. SAMARA, RUSSIA;
WINES, BEERS AND DRINKS Exhibition for the Beverage Industry. Krasnoyarsk, Russia;
Malting Course BRi Nutfield United Kingdom;
INTERPAK 2005 Duessledorf, Germany;
Excursion to West-Flanders;

May 2005:
TwinTrack Brewing Microbiology Program. The Siebel Institute;
HOFEX 2005. 11th Asian International Exhibition of Food & Drink. Hong Kong;
30th Congress of the European Brewery Convention;
Pivo-2005. Beer International Brewing Technology Exhibition. Sochi, Russia.;
Export Credit Guarantee Programs Seminar. USDA;
California Festival of Beers;

June 2005:
World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference 2005, Germany;
ASBC Annual Convention. American Society of Brewing Chemists Meeting.;
IGC GRAINS CONFERENCE 2005;
BRASIL BRAU International Fair of Beverage Technology;
FOOD TAIPEI 2005. The largest food and beverage show in Taiwan;
BevTek / BrewTek International Exhibition of Beverage and Brewery Processing and Packaging Technology. Bangkok, Thailand ;

More events are available on site e-malt.com