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• Feed barley price levels in February dropped from their highs in December/January, analysts reported on March 1. Reasons were first of all a good cover ...more info



• Germany: Klosterbraueri Neuzelle, a former monastery brewery in Neuzelle, Germany, announced on March 10 it has developed a beer named Bathbeer that is designed to slow the aging process ...more info



• Ukraine: The largest Ukrainian Slavuta Malting House produced 6.49 thousand tonnes of malt in February 2004 that is a 5.2% drop or with 0.36 thousand tonnes less ...more info



• UK, London: Danish brewer Carlsberg said on March 11 it was dropping the name of its well-known British beer Tetley's from its UK company name ...more info



• USA: Total beer consumption of US fell 0.6% to 2.8 billion 2.25-gallon cases last year ...more info



• Guinness USA announced on March 9 the arrival of Smithwick's Irish Ale to the United States, just in time to be enjoyed on St. Patrick's Day ...more info



• The Belgian brewer Interbrew has appointed Steve Kitching as country manager for the Netherlands after 18 years with the company’s UK business ...more info



• Coors Brewers has been slammed for making claims that drinking beer does not cause beer bellies. The Burton-based brewery, whose brands include Carling and Grolsch ...more info

Brewery News

Philippines' San Miguel Corp. expects to brew beer in Thailand within two years, a company executive said on March 11, according to Dow Jones. The Philippine company has confirmed that it is to set up its first brewery in Thailand, as part of a plan to spread its pilsner beers through the Asian market. The move is a part of its $100 million investment to start manufacturing and distributing all of San Miguel's product lines in Thailand, including beverage products, processed food and snacks and feed mill operations. Following a report in the Bangkok Post earlier this week, saying that San Miguel will spend 3.7 billion baht (US$93.65m) on a new factory in Rayong, to the east of Bangkok, the company has confirmed the news. San Miguel will compete in Thailand with strong local producers such as Thai Beverages PCL, maker of the top-selling Chang Beer. "We should be able to start a beer and hard liquor business in Thailand within two years," said Ramon Ang, the company's vice chairman. Ang said San Miguel will initially produce nonalcoholic beverage products at the Thai plants. Products the company plans to launch in Thailand initially include drinking water, juice, power drink and ice cream. Ang expects accumulated revenues for the Thai company over the next five years of $1 billion. The company is planning eventually to export half of its products from Thailand to neighboring countries and distribute the other half domestically. Ang said San Miguel is open to opportunities to link up with local partners, but no specific deals have been concluded yet...more info

Brazil, Sao Paulo: Credit rating agencies are poised to give AmBev a unique status among Brazilian companies if the brewer's $11.5 billion deal to merge operations with Belgium's Interbrew goes ahead as planned, Reuters posted on March 11. Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, two of the three best-known credit ratings agencies in the world, have signaled they could raise Companhia de Bebidas das Americas' (AmBev) foreign-currency debt rating as a result of the deal, which would create the world's biggest brewer in terms of volume. Currently at "B+" for both agencies, an upgrade would give AmBev's debt a better foreign currency rating than Brazil's sovereign debt, also at "B+," which is generally the highest rating a Brazilian company can receive by S&P and Fitch. Moody's, the other important credit ratings agency, does not follow that rule. Such an upgrade by S&P or Fitch would reduce the cost of borrowing by AmBev since its bonds would be considered less risky investments. If the upgrades were large enough -- by at least four notches by S&P and Fitch -- the bonds would be considered "investment grade," which means more institutional investors would be allowed to buy them. "The goal is to make the cost of capital cheaper. The more the company climbs up the rating scale, the less they pay for debt," said Paulo Bernardo, director of Banco BBVA in Brazil...more info

India, Patna: The Bihar state government has hiked the import duty for beers coming from outside the state on March 10, according to The Times of India. The cabinet meeting decided to hike the import duty from Rs 12 per case (12 bottles) to Rs 39 per case. The cabinet secretary Vijay Prakash said that import duty for beer had been raised after about 14 years-1990. He said that the state government expected to earn additional revenue of about Rs 2.38 crore per year with this hike. "The hike would mean beer coming from outside the state would be costlier", remarked a state government official. The cabinet secretary Vijay Prakash said that all the decisions of the cabinet were taken before the Lok Sabha elections were announced and there was no need for the approval of the Election Commission.

USA, Chicago: Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. announced on March 11 it has signed a multiyear agreements to extend its Olympic Games sponsorships through the summer games in Beijing in 2008, as it tries to attract more drinkers outside the United States while also expanding its sports sponsorships. The world's largest brewer, which has been an Olympic sponsor since 1984, will be the "official beer sponsors" of the U.S. Olympic Team through 2008, which will give its Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob ULTRA use of the U.S. Olympic five-ring logo in marketing and advertising. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch will also be the sole alcohol sponsor on Olympic Games telecasts on NBC and its sister networks, including CNBC, Telemundo and MSNBC, Tony Ponturo, vice president of Global Media and Sports Marketing, said. Separately, Anheuser-Busch has also signed on to be the "official beer sponsor" of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, its first sponsorship of Olympic Games held outside the United States. Anheuser-Busch declined to disclose details of the sponsorship agreements. "One of our top priorities as a company is to grow our business outside the U.S.," Ponturo said, noting Anheuser-Busch already has about 50 percent of the U.S. beer market...more info

UK: Scottish & Newcastle could face a drinks boycott at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Festival-goers in Edinburgh are to be urged to boycott beer sold by Scottish and Newcastle in protest at its plans to shut the city's Fountain Brewery. The Transport and General Workers' Union said it would be building a campaign in the run-up to the Fringe, which takes place in August. It wants the company to reconsider the closure, which will cost 170 jobs. Beer has been brewed on the Fountain Brewery site since 1856. Last month, S&N announced that it would shut the Fountainbridge brewery in central Edinburgh, with the loss of 170 jobs. The current plant is due to close by the end of the year after Scottish and Newcastle announced it was buying a smaller production operation from Caledonian Brewery. The union believes the closure is unnecessary as the brewery is efficient and profitable. It is also hoping to meet with the company in an attempt to avoid the job losses. "We will be expanding our campaign to involve politicians, trade unions, the Scottish community and customers who are concerned that brands will be lost in Scotland as a result of the City-inspired brewery closure," national organiser Brian Revell said...more info

Malt News

Ukraine: The Soufflet Group and Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) signed a final agreement regarding purchasing Slavuta Maltings’s shares on March 8. The deal will be finished on October 1, 2004 when The Soufflet Group takes a full control of Slavuta plant. The Slavuta Maltings are the major Ukrainian maltings, with a production capacity of 70.000 tonnes per annum. B.B.H., who acquired the Slavuta Maltings in 1999, has decided to concentrate its efforts on the Brewing industry. BBH and Slavutich Brewery own 90% of Slavuta Maltings. With this operation, the Soufflet Group, the world's largest maltster, continues its development in Eastern Europe, which started in 1998. Soufflet Maltings will be producing in eight countries: France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. With this acquisition, the Soufflet Group malting capacity reaches 1,355,000 tonnes. The Soufflet Group will develop the malting barley production in Ukraine for the supply of the Slavuta Maltings. It is intended to increase the Maltings' production capacity in order to accompany the important development of the BBH breweries in this country. The preliminary agreement regarding selling Slavuta Maltings was confirmed in July 2003 and finally signed on March 8, 2004. In 2003 the sales volume of BBH came to 3,135 million litres or EUR 1,161 million in money terms, moreover the company’s EBITA reached EUR 264 million. BBH owns 18 breweries: ten in Russia, two in Ukraine, four in Baltic States and two in Kazakhstan. Besides the company is to launch a new brewery in Kiev this summer. BBH is a selling leader in Baltic States, Kazakhstan and Russia, where it holds 33% of the market, by the data of 2003. In Ukraine BBH holds the second place with 22% of the market. The main brands of BBH in Ukraine are: Slavutich, Lvivske, Arsenal. BBH’s shares are owned 50:50 by Carlsberg Breweries A/S and Scottish & Newcastle plc.

Barley News

Canada: Tsingtao, brewed in China and exported to more than 40 countries world-wide boasts that it contains 50 % Canadian barley, Adrian Meanser, CWB president and CEO said on March 11 in the Presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-food. “The strong commercial relationship that we have developed with China is a key asset for the CWB as we move forward in our efforts to maximize farmer returns. China's booming economy may have negative affects on ocean freight rates, but this growth also presents numerous opportunities for Canadian wheat and barley because individuals have higher disposable incomes than ever before, enabling them to purchase more beer and grain-based food products,” Adrian Meanser said. Speaking about CWB recent successes the company’s CEO added: “On the malting barley front, we have been successful in getting buyers to switch from Harrington to AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland, two varieties with even better agronomic characteristics.”

Turkish company TMO announced last week a tender on buying 100 thousand tonnes of feed barley with March-April 2004 delivery period. Now the company has confirmed the offers received from three companies: Toepfer, Glencore and Grains&Fourrages. The minimum price of offers comes to US$ 174.49 per tonne C&F. The tender’s results will be announced by the end of the week.

Ukraine exported through see ports about 103,600 tonnes of feed barley February 2004 versus 24,800 tonnes in January 2004. 60,900 tonnes of feed barley Ukraine delivered to Turkey, 20,000 tonnes to Cyprus and 22, 700 to Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.

Theoretical malt prices.

* - 70/30 = 70% Average two Rows Spring and 30% Six Rows Winter
** - 50/50 = 50% Average two Rows Spring and 50% Six Rows Winter

Theoretical malt prices for crop 2004 are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting barley prices. French barley prices. Nominal prices.

EURO = USD 1.2341 March 12, 2004
Crop year		2003		2004
Parity		FOB Creil		FOB Creil
Position		July 2003		July 2004
Type	Variety	EURO	USD	EURO	USD
2RS	Scarlett	128.00	158.00	128.00	158.00
2RS	Prestige/Cellar	127.00	157.00	127.00	157.00
2RS	Aspen	126.00	155.50	126.00	155.50
2RS	Optic	126.00	155.50	126.00	155.50
2RS	Astoria	125.00	154.50	125.00	154.50
2RS	Cork	125.00	154.50	125.00	154.50
6RW	Esterel	nq	nq	117.00	144.50

nq - Not quoted

Prices for Danish and UK malting barley are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Graph of the week

Agenda

March 2004: PIVEX - INTERNATIONAL BREWING & MALTING FAIR ; New York City Real Beer Festival; Real Ale Festival; The Night of Large Thirst; Zythos Beer Festival; International course - Malting and Brewing Science; ALIMENTARIA 2004; FOODEX Japan 2004; ANTAD 2004; FOOD & DRINK EXPO 2004; Forth Russian Conference on Non-alcoholic Beer; 2004 BIENNIAL CONVENTION; Beer Auction 2004, the international exhibition of beer, technology and equipment; China Drinktec 2004. China International Exhibition on Beverage and Brewing Processing Technology
April 2004: InterFood; INTERFOOD UZBEKISTAN /INTERFOODTECH 2004; INTERFOOD ST. PETERSBURG 2004; SIBFOODEXPO 2004; BEER. WINES & DRINKS International Beer; World Beer Cup; 2004 National Craft Brewers Conference; FOODASIA 2004; ASTANA FOOD 2004; INTERFOOD AZERBAIJAN/ INTERFOODTECH 2004; 43rd MBAA District Caribbean Convention; IFEX 2004; EXPOVIVIENDA 2004;
May 2004: EBC SYMPOSIUM 'FOOD SAFETY & TRACEABILITY'; CANADEAN'S 4th INTERNATIONAL BEER CONFERENCE; CITBUSMED 2004; PIVO, GASTRO, BAKERY / Bulgaria; ALCO + SOFT 2004 / Ukraine; FOOD & DRINKS/FOOD TECHNOLOGY 2004 / Moldova; Beer International Brewing Technology Exhibition / Russia;

More events are available on site e-malt.com

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