An interesting question is, how much beer will be brewed and malt used in Europe, the EU and all adjacent countries. The analysts answer. The year started with bad losses of sales in most countries, Germany seemed the hardest hit by the introduction of an obligatory deposit on beer cans, but even Russia did not escape the winter slump. The long and very cold winter had certainly an effect. Since the middle of June a summer heat wave moved from Mediterranean regions to the whole of the Continent and finally even to the U.K. and Scandinavia. There are few countries, which report beer sales on a monthly basis, therefore the German plus of 9 % in June is the only figure we have, but a hopeful sign for all of Europe. The extraordinary high summer temperatures are supposed to last through the month of August. It is hoped that beer sales during this period will make up for most (or all?) of the earlier losses. Malt stocks should become smaller due to good domestic call-offs, and export shipments seem to have picked up as well, as licence bookings indicate.

15 August, 2003