Base Currency: Euro, EUR on 30-June-2004 1 EUR = 1.2085 USD 1 EUR = 0.6689 GBP 1 EUR = 1.6258 CAD 1 EUR = 1.7520 AUD 1 EUR = 130.96 JPY 1 EUR = 3.7572 BRL 1 EUR = 35.1069 RUB	Base Currency: US Dollar on 30-June-2004 1 USD = 0.8277 EUR 1 USD = 0.5534 GBP 1 USD = 1.3453 CAD 1 USD = 1.4497 AUD 1 USD = 108.38 JPY 1 USD = 3.109 BRL 1 USD = 29.05 RUB
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Malaysia: Beverage and food giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is strengthening up its presence in the Asia-Pacific region with its plan to put up a new brewery in Johor, the southernmost state of Malaysia. SMC vice-chairman and president Ramon Ang said plans are now underway for the acquisition of a 20-hectare property in Malaysia to house its proposed beer and hard liquor facility. He said the company has applied for a business permit from the Malaysian government and is optimistic of securing one anytime soon, The Philippine Star posted on June 29. The ground-breaking for the proposed plant has been tentatively scheduled in September or October this year. The plant is expected to serve the markets of Malaysia and Singapore, Ang said. Johor is one of Malaysia’s most developed states with an expanding economy fueled by agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and tourism. It is also the nation’s major producer of palm oil, rubber, pineapples and bananas. With an annual population growth rate of 1.9 percent, Johor’s population is estimated to total over 25 million by 2005. The labor force is also expected to increase to 11.2 million by next year. SMC has set aside between $700 million to $1 billion for its capital expenditures within the next three years as part of efforts to rank among Asia’s top 10 food and beverage companies by 2007. The company is expanding in seven Asian countries this year to propel its growth as it faces saturation in the local market where it dominates the beer, liquor, softdrink and food sectors. The company controls the beer segment with a commanding market share of more than 90 percent. SMC chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco earlier said the conglomerate’s focus is to take advantage of the vast regional opportunity given the demographics of overseas food and beverage industries. With a war chest of about P22 billion and a healthy credit line, SMC is confident it could replicate overseas the strong domestic operations of the company anchored on the good quality of products it produces...more info

Luxembourg: A top European Union lawyer left the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, and a state-owned Czech rival in limbo on June 29 over which has the right to the "Budweiser" trademark, one of the best known beer brands, according to Reuters. EU advocate-general Antonio Tizzano said the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar's use of "Budweiser Budvar" in Finland could infringe on Anheuser-Busch's trademark "Budweiser" and confuse consumers. However, the Luxembourg-based lawyer also said the Czech company's trade name, which is derived from the place of origin of the beer in the Czech Republic, could have an "existing prior right" if it had been used to market goods before the trademark was registered. The two companies have frequently clashed over the brand around the world. Anheuser-Busch's product refers to the famous German name of the beer's place of origin. The Czech company, meanwhile, is trying to hold on to the brand that it argues in the Finnish case is the English translation of Budejovicky Budvar. Anheuser-Busch, which sells beer in more than 80 countries, has rights to the "Budweiser" and "Bud" names in most of the world. The U.S. company has already stopped Budvar from using or registering Budweiser in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand and Spain. But it lost a long-running legal battle in Britain in February 2003 to block the Czech brewery using the trademark "Bud." Now the EU's stance on the Finnish case could determine who keeps the name in the 25-nation bloc, which includes heavy beer drinking countries such as the UK and Germany...more info

Russian brewer OAO Vena is to launch the production under license of French beer ‘Kronenburg 1664’ in October 2004, company’s General Director Petr Chernishov has recently announced at a press conference. Sales volumes of this brand are to reach 30 thousand hl by 2005. However, the investments amount was not revealed. The beer will be output in kegs and bottles of 0.33 l. ‘Kronenburg 1664’ is very famous in Europe and takes the forth place among the European beer brands by sales volumes. In the first five months of 2004 Vena sold 66.5 million litres of beer, a 40% rise versus the same period last year. The increase of net revenue amounted 38% in comparison with the first five months of 2003. Company’s leading trademarks are Nevskoe and Tuborg. In May 2004 OAO Vena held 20.2% of St. Petersburg beer market. Beer Nevskoe is the best premium beer brand sold in the city, owning 42.4% in this segment.

Canada, Guelph: Sleeman Breweries Ltd. announced on June 22 that it succeeds in take-over bid for Unibroue, the largest micro-brewery in Québec. The company said that 4,143,254 multiple voting shares ("MVS") of Unibroue Inc. ("Unibroue") and 1,587,140 subordinate voting shares ("SVS") of Unibroue, representing 100% of the outstanding MVS and 91.2% of the outstanding SVS, have been deposited to the $5.25 cash recommended takeover offers (the "Offer") made by Sleeman for the MVS and SVS. With this level of deposit, all conditions to the Offer are now satisfied. Sleeman will instruct the depositary, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, to take up and pay for all the MVS and SVS validly deposited pursuant to the Offer. Payment to Unibroue shareholders who deposited their MVS and/or SVS under the Offer will be made as soon as possible and in any event within 10 days. Sleeman now intends to exercise its statutory right under the Canada Business Corporations Act to acquire the remaining SVS not deposited under the Offer. Following acquisition of all of the remaining SVS, Sleeman intends to delist the SVS from the Toronto Stock Exchange and cause Unibroue to cease to be a reporting issuer under the securities laws of each applicable province. Sleeman Breweries Ltd. is the leading brewer and distributor of premium beer in Canada and the third largest brewing company nation-wide. The company has supplemented its core Sleeman brands, which are available in every province, with a family of exceptional regional brands. These include Okanagan Spring and Shaftebury in British Columbia and Alberta, Upper Canada in Ontario, Seigneuriale in Québec and MacLays in Atlantic Canada...more info

In 2003, Czech beer maker, Budweiser Budvar, exported about 24,000 hl of beer to Russia that is a rise of 55.8% compared to 2002, when the company exported 15,360 hl to Russia. Russia represents 4,5 % of company’s exports. In 2002 beer sales to Russia of Budweiser Budvar increased 30% versus 2001 and accounted 1.536 million litres compared to 1.2 million litres in 2001. Now Budweiser takes the first place among the Czech beer imported to Russia. The Czech Republic beer sales to Russia increased by 20% in 2003 versus 2002 up to about 3,6 million hl, according to the Czech Trade data. That is more than a sixth part of all Czech beer produced in 2003. This figure is to increase by 10% in 2004, Czech analysts reported. They think Russian beer market is the most prospective in the world and that Russians prefer beer to vodka. Moreover they also said that Czech beer is very popular in Russia. Czech beer is sold mainly in the segment of ‘premium’ beer. Russia is already involved in Czech brands production. ‘Staropramen’ brand was brewed by Kalujskaya brewery, a subsidiary of OOO TransMark, till February 2003. Now the Staropramen brand is output by Sun Interbrew at its Klinsky brewery. Staropramen beer is sold in 36 world’s countries. Since September 2002 Kalujskaya brewery started the production of Czech Kozel beer brand.

Malt News

U.S.A., Washington, Seattle: Cargill Malt/Specialty Products Group has opened a warehouse in central Seattle to better meet the pale- and specialty-malt needs of regional brewers, micro-breweries and brewpubs in the Pacific Northwest, company officials said last week, under the World-Grain reports. "We have chosen a United Warehousing location for our site, given its superior facilities and extensive trucking fleet," said Ron Ryan, account executive for Cargill Malt/ Specialty Products Group. The warehouse not only offers Cargill’s proprietary malts but also carries the full lines of Dingemans, Pauls and Meussdoerffer malts, as well as a selection of Weyermann, Crisp and Gambrinus malts. In addition, regional customers now have direct access to a full line of flaked and torrified malt products. "This convenient location enables us to provide next-day delivery of our products to customers in the greater Seattle and Portland areas," said Ryan. "Having a presence in this region also translates into significant savings for our Pacific Northwest customers through dramatic decreases in transportation costs." Ryan said that the new Seattle warehouse was a key addition to Cargill Malt’s nationwide malt distribution network. That network also includes warehouses in northern California, Denver and Minnesota; bulk trans-load sites in Washington, northern and southern California and Vermont; and malt-houses in Wisconsin, North Dakota and Saskatchewan.

Australia has increased its malt exports from 370,000 tonnes in 1996/97 to almost 530,000 tonnes in 2002/03. It has a great logistical advantage over competitors for sales to Southeast and Far East Asia. Its government succeeded to conclude a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand, which will give an extra boost to Australian malt sales to that country. Southeast Asia is amongst the fastest growing beer markets of the world, and in spite of the recent opening of a malthouse in Vietnam the tropical and subtropical climates of that subcontinent do neither suit the cultivation of barley nor the production of malt. Ausmalt, the subsidiary of the recently merged Ausbulk and ABB, has targeted these markets, expanded its malting factory in Adelaide and now plans a new construction of an 80,000 tonnes malthouse in Victoria.

Barley News

Ukraine barley crop estimate

in '000 ha and '000 tonnes	2003		2004
	Acreage	Production	Acreage	Production
Winter barley	715	160	534	1,151
Spring barley	5,080	7,290	3,832	7,866
TOTAL	5,795	7,450	4,366	9,017

China imported 570,000 tonnes of malting barley in January/April 2004, 409,000 tonnes from Australia and 158,000 tonnes from Canada, according to official import statistics. Total imports in July-December 2003 had only been 222,000 tonnes. It is believed, however, that barley imports in container vessels were not listed in import statistics, and they account for another 250,000 tonnes, particularly from the Australian East Coast, analysts commented. Last year's deliveries of Chinese malting barley to the industry are estimated to have been 1.2-1.3 million tonnes. This year acreage was lost to wheat; therefore the Chinese "collecte" of malting barley is expected to be only 0.95-1.0 million tonnes. If China produced 280 million hl beer in 2004, malt needs would be 2.8 million tonnes equal to a barley demand of 3.5 million tonnes.

France: French winter barley area for 2004 is currently forecast at 1.07 million ha by ONIC, up 30,000 ha. The condition of the crop largely followed the progress of winter wheat. However, the high temperatures in early June are expected to have more of an impact on yield than for wheat. This is because the winter barley crop was more advanced in the yield building stage. Strategie Grains still expect yield to recover on last year’s low level, and production to be up 1.3 million tonnes to 7.1 million tonnes. Spring barley area for 2004 is currently forecast at 0.58M ha by ONIC, down 140,000 ha on last season. Planting conditions were good, but with high winter plantings and no winterkill spring plantings returned to a more normal, lower level. Spring barley was generally not seen as being advanced enough to have suffered from the high early June temperatures. Production is currently forecast by Strategie Grains to drop by 0.55 million tonnes to 3.4 million tonnes.

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 online www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting barley prices. French barley prices.

Graph of the week
Agenda

June 2004:
BrewNZ 2004;
ALIMENTARIA MEXICO International Food and Beverages Exhibition;
Hotelympia;
BEVEX 2004 - Korea Int'l Beverage & Brewery Processing Technology Expo;
10th international symposium on pre-harvest sprouting in cereals;
BevTek / BrewTek;
IGC GRAINS CONFERENCE 2004;
26th Annual National Homebrewers Conference;
Scottish Traditional Beer Festival;
Coceral Congress 2004;
American Homebrewers Association 26th Annual National Homebrewers Conference;
Food Taipei;
The 9th International Barley Genetics Symposium;
Little Oktoberfest;

July 2004:
VI Moscow Beer Festival;
Lucky Baldwin's IPA Festival;
BevTek / BrewTek China;
Vermont Brewers Festival;
World Brewing Congress 2004;
Hop, malt and beer of Russia Exhibition;

August 2004:
Great British Beer Festival;
Worcester Beer and Cider Festival;
BeerTek China Beer and Brewing Technology Exhibition;
Peterborough Beer Festival 2004;
FOODWORLD Food and Beverage Exhibition;
TecnoBebida Latin America International Exhibition of Technologies for the Beverage Industry;

More events are available on site e-malt.com