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Belgian brewer, Interbrew, has recently revealed in its annual report details of salaries paid to its executives. According to the company, in 2003, the total fees earned by Board members
...more info
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USA: Boston Beer Co. Inc., maker of Sam Adams lager, will host a series of Sam Adams Light beer tastings in New York City to raise money for a foundation
...more info
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Philippine: San Miguel Corp., the country’s largest food and beverage conglomerate, is expecting to post double-digit growth in beer sales volume in the first quarter of the year
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Japan: Sapporo Breweries Ltd said on April 1 it plans to sell 14 million cases of its Draft One beer-like alcoholic beverage in 2004, 40% more than its initial sales
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United Kingdom: Interbrew UK is to spend £11 million on supporting Castlemaine XXXX in 2004, a 22% increase on last year's budget
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Germany: The Weyermann Malting Company of Bamberg, Germany, announced on March 1 the successful completion of contract negotiations with Heavy Duty Products Ltd
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Australia: A sudden boardroom spill at grain group AusBulk just months before its listing has cleared the way for an early resumption of failed $700 million merger talks with barley
...more info
Brewery News
Denmark: Carlsberg A/S announced on 31 March, 2004 that the company has sold 174,399 B shares equivalent to a 29.07% shareholding in Harboes Bryggeri A/S for DKK 252 million at an average share price of 1450, according to the Danish Securities Trading Act, sections 28a and 29. Thus, Carlsberg A/S is no longer shareholder in Harboes Bryggeri. The sales will not impact Carlsberg’s operating profit because the investment has been a solely financial investment. Carlsberg sells the shares as part of increasing the financial flexibility of the company.
Carlsberg acquired the shares in 1980 at the request of the Harboe family who wanted Carlsberg’s support in the implementation of a generational change and at the same time a seat for a single member of the Board of Directors was provided for Carlsberg. Following Harboes Bryggeri’s listing at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in 1989, the attitude of the family changed towards Carlsberg which at later stage led to Carlsberg withdrawing from the Board of Directors and have since had no special insight into the operations of the company.
In spite of the fact Carlsberg has never influenced the day to day operations the Danish competition authorities have at several occasions called on Carlsberg to sell its shareholding in Harboes Brygger. Following the sales of the Harboe shares Carlsberg has no shareholding in other Danish breweries.
Belgium Interbrew, the maker of Stella Artois beer, could move its legal home from Belgium to a tax haven after completing a €9.2bn ($11.3bn) alliance with AmBev of Brazil, Financial Times posted on March 31. The brewing multinational, which has a 638-year history in Belgium, will weigh up whether to change where it is legally incorporated - and where it is taxed - once it has changed its name to InterbrewAmBev. Any such move would be politically controversial, especially as Jean-Luc Dehaene, the former Belgian prime minister, is a non-executive director.
However, Interbrew stressed that its physical headquarters were certain to remain in Leuven, near Brussels, where it is due to move into new offices.Interbrew proposed a complex exchange of assets with AmBev last month, saying the combination would create the world's biggest brewer by sales volume. Hundreds of documents released subsequently include the disclosure that Interbrew and AmBev's controlling shareholders want to complete "an examination of the feasibility and desirability of redomiciling the company to another jurisdiction by no later than the first anniversary of the closing [of the deal]". If a move appeared desirable, "the company will be redomiciled as soon as practicable".
The AmBev deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2004, although part of it has been legally challenged by Femsa, the Mexican brewer. Analysts at Merrill Lynch, an Interbrew adviser, predicted InterbrewAmBev would choose Luxembourg, "probably for tax purposes". They said such a move should not compromise financial transparency because InterbrewAmBev will also consider a New York Stock Exchange listing, which would entail a flow of detailed data...more info
Russia: Dutch brewing force, Heineken, plans to build a new brewery in Ekaterinburg, the Urals, Kommersant-Daily reported on April 1. According to the source, Dutch brewer failed buying an existing Russian brewery “so the only choice is constructing its own plant in Sverdlovsk region”. Sverdlovsk regional governor Eduard Rossel, who received a letter from Heineken’s leadership with the offer on building a brewery in the region, revealed the news. The cost of the new plant will come to around US$ 40-50 million. The news was also confirmed by Viktor Pyatko, the general director of Heineken Brewery in Russia.
Meanwhile analysts were not surprised with the news. Last year Heineken held active negotiations with the largest Russian beer makers on the subject of purchasing. According to Federation Group, the former distributor of Heineken in Russia, Dutch brewer made offers to Krasny Vostok, Stepan Razin and TEPKO. To all appearance, Heineken failed to come to any agreement and decided to build its own brewery, analysts said.
It was estimated that with the announced investment of US$ 40-50 million Heineked will be able to build a brewery with a production capacity of 100 million litres (for comparison the local (Sverdlovsk) leader Patra brewery produced 69 million litres of beer in 2003) and will held 10% of Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk beer market. Ekaterinburg takes the third place in Russia regarding per capita beer consumption after St. Petersburg and Moscow. Russia’s largest breweries, Sun Interbrew and Baltika, do not currently have production facilities in the area...more info
China's Tsingtao Brewery, the leader in the world's largest beer market, reported on April 1 a 10 % gain in 2003 net profit as sales growth offset higher costs for barley and rice. Tsingtao, which has roughly 13 % of the China beer market, is boosting its share of the fragmented but consolidating industry, which has seen a flood of investment from foreign giants, including Tsingtao's 10 % stakeholder Anheuser Busch, under the Reuters’ reports.
More expensive raw materials and higher distribution and electricity costs have put Tsingtao's already narrow margins under pressure. With limited scope to raise prices, it needs to increase sales and wring efficiencies out of a sprawling operation built through the purchase of dozens of breweries, many of them still loss-making. Still, analysts expect Tsingtao's profits to increase by nearly 40 % this year and next.
While state-backed Tsingtao said it faces increasing competition from foreign-invested foes, on top of rising costs, it nonetheless struck a bullish tone on April 1. "Tsingtao Brewery is confident to overcome all these difficulties and maintain growth," the firm said in a statement. Full-year net profit rose to 245 million yuan (US$29.6 million), from 222.55 million in 2002. Heavy promotions in the third quarter helped Tsingtao recover from the SARS outbreak earlier in 2003. The fourth quarter is typically a slow season...more info
USA: A Portland artisan brewing company will bow to the wishes of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and stop selling Governator Ale, a popular beer that has been a big seller in California, Associated Press reported on April 1. "We've agreed to settle," Portland Brewing chief executive Jerome Chicvara said Tuesday. "We're saying we're not going to argue - we're going to acquiesce to their point of view, and we're not supposed to say anything more."
In December, Chicvara sent 4,500 cases of 22-oz. bottles of Governator to California, where it was a hit at $2.99 a bottle. The brew became the darling of bloggers worldwide, thanks to articles on CNN and MSN online pages. Chicvara says a couple of hundred cases are still in Oregon, mostly at Columbia Distributing, but that collectors elsewhere have been paying about $20 for a bottle of Governator on eBay.
Malt News
Ukraine: In February 2004 Ukraine imported 2.3 times more malt than in January 2004, according to ProAgro. France was the largest supplier of malt on the Ukrainian market in February. It shipped 70% of all imported malt volumes in this month. Yantar Brewery purchased the largest lot of French malt. ProAgro also mentioned that Ukrainian breweries bought 300 tonnes of Finish malt.
Australia: ABB Grain Ltd., an Australian marketing concern, said on April 2 that merger talks with AusBulk Ltd., a grain logistics and malting concern, are back on, according to Dow Jones. The pair abandoned talks in early March having failed to reach an agreement on company valuations. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, ABB said Friday that it was clear a merger had significant support from shareholders of both companies. Following a reconsideration of the issues and with good intent from both companies, the early signs "are encouraging," said ABB Chairman Trevor Day.
Barley News
Barley: 2003-04 barley production in Canada and Australia returned to average levels after 2002 drought, CWB revealed in a statement. US crop was up to 6.3 million tonnes. EU crop decreased. Reduced European supplies create opportunities for Western Canada.
Malting barley: There was registered weaker global demand of malting barley, particularly in Asia and some increased demand in Eastern Europe. Improved crops of malting barley in North America and Australia were recorded compared to 2002. Weaker US demand for six-row malting barley because of its own high quality crop. Chinese demand in malting barley is to double and Latin American imports are to increase by 50%.
Theoretical malt prices.
| EURO = USD 1.2355 April 02, 2004 |
| Crop year |
2003 |
| Parity |
FOB Antwerp |
| Position |
Apr 2004-Sept 2004 |
| Conditioning |
Bulk |
In bags |
Bulk containers |
In bags in containers |
| Malting barley variety |
EURO |
USD |
EURO |
USD |
EURO |
USD |
EURO |
USD |
| 2RS |
Scarlett |
253.50 |
313.50 |
269.00 |
332.00 |
265.50 |
327.50 |
275.00 |
339.50 |
| 2RS |
Prestige/Cellar |
252.50 |
312.00 |
267.50 |
330.50 |
264.00 |
326.00 |
273.50 |
338.00 |
| 2RS |
Aspen |
251.50 |
310.50 |
266.50 |
329.00 |
263.00 |
324.50 |
272.50 |
336.50 |
| 2RS |
Optic |
251.50 |
310.50 |
266.50 |
329.00 |
263.00 |
324.50 |
272.50 |
336.50 |
| 2RS |
Astoria |
250.00 |
309.00 |
265.50 |
327.50 |
261.50 |
323.00 |
271.00 |
335.00 |
| 2RS |
Cork |
250.00 |
309.00 |
265.50 |
327.50 |
261.50 |
323.00 |
271.00 |
335.00 |
| 2RS |
Average price |
251.50 |
311.00 |
267.00 |
329.50 |
263.50 |
325.50 |
273.00 |
337.00 |
| 2RS |
FAQ |
249.00 |
307.50 |
264.00 |
326.00 |
260.50 |
321.50 |
270.00 |
333.50 |
| 6RW |
Esterel |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
| * |
Asia Malt 70/30 |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
| ** |
Asia Malt 50/50 |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
nq |
|
* - 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 1.2355 April 02, 2004 |
| Crop year |
2003 |
2004 |
| Parity |
FOB Creil |
FOB Creil |
| Position |
July 2003 |
July 2004 |
| Type |
Variety |
EURO |
USD |
EURO |
USD |
| 2RS |
Scarlett |
122.50 |
151.50 |
127.00 |
157.00 |
| 2RS |
Prestige/Cellar |
121.50 |
150.50 |
126.00 |
156.00 |
| 2RS |
Aspen |
120.50 |
149.00 |
125.00 |
154.50 |
| 2RS |
Optic |
120.50 |
149.00 |
125.00 |
154.50 |
| 2RS |
Astoria |
119.50 |
148.00 |
124.00 |
153.50 |
| 2RS |
Cork |
119.50 |
148.00 |
124.00 |
153.50 |
| 6RW |
Esterel |
nq |
nq |
116.00 |
143.50 |
Graph of the week
Agenda
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;
June 2004:
ALIMENTARIA MEXICO International Food and Beverages Exhibition;
Hotelympia;
10th international symposium on pre-harvest sprouting in cereals;
BevTek / BrewTek;
IGC GRAINS CONFERENCE 2004;
26th Annual National Homebrewers Conference;
Coceral Congress 2004;
The 9th International Barley Genetics Symposium;
Little Oktoberfest;
More events are available on site e-malt.com
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