Companhia de Bebidas das Americas SA (AmBev), Brazil's biggest brewer and drinks group, has lowered its forecast for the rest of the year. The reason is the economic slowdown seen at the end of the second quarter that will suppress volumes for the full year. "We see 2% volume growth for the year but, again, that always depends on the market," AmBev's chief executive, Marcel Telles, said. This is also a reduced forecast from AmBev's outlook in May when it said it was expecting volume growth of between 2% and 3% for the year. Volumes were up 5.4% year-on-year in the first quarter and by 2.5% in the second.

19 August, 2003