1. Trading info

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

• Offer for 2000 mtons of malt, 6RW(100%), crop 2002, bulk, delivery 01/04/2003 - 31/07/2003, at EUR 274 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1303P2113)
  
  
• Offer for 100-1000 mtons of malt, 6RW, Esterel(100%), crop 2002, Bags in container, delivery 1/6/2003 - 30/9/2003, at EUR 302 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1303P2123)
  
  
• Offer for 1500 mtons of malt, 2RS, Scarlet(100%), crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/4/2003 - 31/5/2003, at EUR 295.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1303P2129)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Ukrainian Brewer Slavutich increased its beer output by 9.4% in January-February 2003... Click here
  
  
• Luxembourg-listed Quilmes Industrial, a holding company, which controls Argentina's biggest brewer, announced on March 13 a net loss of $135.9 million for 2002... Click here
  
  
• Latvian brewing force Aldaris has reached 50% quota of beer produced in Latvia for the first two months of the current year... Click here
  
  
• Total Japanese shipments of beer and low-malt "happoshu" fell 6.4% in February this year... Click here
  
  
• Boston Beer Co. Inc.'s chief financial officer made a profit selling the brewer's shares the same day the company announced his resignation... Click here

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

• A year after Molson Inc. snapped up Brazil's second-biggest brewer, president Dan O'Neill is bringing a piece of South America back to Canada ...more info



• Molson Inc., Canada's oldest and biggest brewery, announced its plans to buy back around 3.8 million of its Class A and B shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ...more info



• United Breweries Group (UB), beer and drinks group based in India, intends to sell its South African subsidiary, United National Breweries (UNB) ...more info



• Lithuanian Brewing companies exported about 550 thousand litres of beer in January-February 2003, 22.2% more then for the same period last year ...more info



• The Spanish brewing company, Damm, based in Catalonia, has posted a consolidated turnover of EUR 452.5 milion for 2002 ...more info



• Baltika, the Russian brewer, plans to claim against a Belarus Supreme Business Court ruling ...more info



• Shareholders of Anheuser-Busch, the leading US brewer, will be given a chance to vote on whether the brewer should have an independent chairman ...more info



• ZAO “Obolon” (Kiev), one of three biggest Ukrainian brewers, has posted a 10.4% rise of beer output for January-February this year ...more info



• Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the world's top brewer, trimmed its chairman's salary and bonus when he left the chief executive officer post last year ...more info




2. Industry news

Ukrainian Brewer Slavutich increased its beer output by 9.4% in January-February 2003. For this period the company produced about 21.312 million litres of beer. In February Slavutich has registered a 3.9% rise of beer output compared to February 2002 and produced about 11.033 million litres of beer. Slavutich is one of the biggest Ukrainian breweries and is controlled by BBH. Slavutich sold about 193.7 million litres of beer in 2002.

Luxembourg-listed Quilmes Industrial, a holding company, which controls Argentina's biggest brewer, announced on March 13 a net loss of $135.9 million for 2002, compared with profit of $43.3 million a year earlier, Reuters reported. The firm said earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to $91.5 million from $233.1 million a year previously. Quilmes slipped into an operating loss of $3.6 million, having posted an operating profit of $136.6 million in 2001. Sales of beer fell 6.5% in volume terms, but the overall dollar value of sales dived to $468.6 million from $938.7 million because of the devaluation of the Argentine currency during the year.

Latvian brewing force Aldaris has reached 50% quota of beer produced in Latvia for the first two months of the current year. The company also increased to 46% its quota on Latvian beer market taking into account sold both Latvian beer and imported one. Aldaris reported that for January-February 2003 the company sold 4.557 million litres of beer, out of which 4.469 million litres is beer produced in Latvia. Aldaris sells beer brands like Carlsberg, Guiness, Kilkenny and some Russian brands of Baltica. By the end of 2002 Aldaris held about 40% of imported and national beer market and 46% share of national beer market. Aldaris, mainly controlled by Baltic Beverages Holding, has registered for 2002 a profit of 1.949 million Latvian lats (1 LVL=1.7437 USD), 7.6% more than in 2001. The company registered 84.3 million litres of sales volume, and 53.2 million of beer sales. Sales volumes increased by 17% in comparison with 2001 year.

Total Japanese shipments of beer and low-malt "happoshu" fell 6.4% in February this year, Reuters reported in a statemt. Only shipments of happoshu, a low-malt beer substitute, fell 0.1% to 188,827 thousand litres in February from a year earlier. It was the first decline since June. Happoshu accounted for 46.4% of total beer shipments in February. Demand for happoshu increased as the beverage is taxed at a lower rate and is sold for about two-thirds the price of regular beer. Demand for regular beer fell down 11.2% from a year earlier to 218,126 thousand litres. Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's largest brewer by shipments, said its beer and happoshu shipments fell 5.3% in February from a year earlier. Shipments of Asahi Super Dry, Japan's best-selling beer, fell 7%. The other four main brewers -- Kirin Brewery Co Ltd, Sapporo Breweries Ltd, plus unlisted Suntory Ltd and Orion Breweries Co Ltd -- do not release monthly breakdowns of shipments. By early afternoon, shares in Asahi were unchanged at 771 yen while those in Kirin fell 1.55% to 827 yen.

Boston Beer Co. Inc.'s chief financial officer made a profit selling the brewer's shares the same day the company announced his resignation, according to Reuters. Shares of Boston Beer, which makes the Samuel Adams line of beers, fell more than 8% on Tuesday to $11.56, their lowest level since November 2001. The decline came after Boston Beer said late on Monday that Richard Lindsay, its treasurer and CFO, would leave at the end of March "to pursue advanced educational goals and other professional opportunities." Lindsay exercised an option for 1,000 class A common shares at $7.15625 each on Monday and then sold the shares at $12.50 each, leaving him with direct ownership of 200 shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...more info