1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there is one OFFER for 3000 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1 - 3000 mtons of malt, 2RS, crop 2003, Bulk, delivery 1/11/2003 - 30/6/2004, at EUR 271.00/mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1507P1552)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

More news is available on site www.e-malt.com  

• Budweiser beer and Williams will conclude a global sponsorship deal on July 16, Formula One sources said on Monday. The BMW-powered team and Budweiser, owned by the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch ...more info



• Scandinavian Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) is selling Slavuta malt factory, based in the Khmelnytsky region in Ukraine, to France's Soufflet Group ...more info



• USA, state New Mexico: Albuquerque-based Joe G. Maloof Company purchased the third-largest beer distributor in its home state, New Mexico Beverage Company, on July 7, the company reported ...more info



• Slovakia's Pivovar Saris brewery posted a net profit of SKK 109.7 mln in 2002, an increase of 45 % over the previous year, according to figures released by the firm ...more info



• 172.8 million litres of beer were sold in Bulgaria during the first six months of the year, by 6% more, versus the first half of 2002, the Union of Bulgarian Brewers revealed ...more info



• South East Asia's largest food and beverage firm, based in Philippines, San Miguel Corporation, announced on July 14 that it expects its first half net income to grow about 30 % versus the same period a year ago ...more info



• Plzensky Prazdroj, the largest Czech brewer, has reported a 5% growth in sales for the first six month of 2003 against the same period last year ...more info




2. Brewery News

San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's largest food and beverage firm, likely posted a 10 %year-on-year growth in beer sales in June, a source close to the company said on July 15, Reuters reported. That would send estimated January-to-June local beer sales over the 15-billion-peso ($281 million) mark, the source said. The company posted beer sales revenue of 2.1 billion pesos ($39.3 million) in June of last year. Favourable production costs, particularly stable raw material prices, would likely lead to higher operating income year on year for the brewery in the six-month period, the source added. San Miguel earlier said its beer sales in the first five months of the year climbed 13 % year on year to 12.7 billion pesos due to aggressive sales and improved distribution. Eduardo Cojuangco, company chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters on Monday the group would likely post a 30 % year-on-year jump in revenues and operating income in the first six months of the year. The group's first half net income was also likely to grow a little less than 30 % from a year ago, Cojuangco said...more info

The joint acquisition by Diageo and Heineken of Interbrew's stake in Namibia Breweries Ltd was approved by the EU Commission on July 11. The deal is worth EUR 31 million. Interbrew sells its 44% stake in NBL Investment Holdings, which owns 50.1% of Namibia Breweries. After their purchase of a direct 6.8% participation in the local brewer, Diageo and Heineken will control 28.9% of Namibia Breweries. "If you can share cost of distribution and things such as that, then it is a pretty good proposition for both companies," said Heineken representative Manel Vrijenhoek. Diageo said in a statement, its joint venture with Heineken was a "win-win partnership". When Interbrew announced the sale in April it also said it had extended its licence agreement with Namibian Breweries for the production, marketing and distribution of the Beck's brand in Namibia and South-Africa for a further 10 years. Interbrew acquired a stake in Namibia Breweries through its purchase of Germany's Becks in August 2001...more info

Russia is already the world's fifth-largest beer market after Brazil, Germany, the United States and China. However, the growth rate of Russia's beer market is now slowing after a boom in the 1990s, according to a Reuters report. Investors, keen to extend their share of the increasingly competitive market, will have to buy more domestic breweries, analysts said. They see the market rising to 86.8 million hectolitres by 2007, from 70.9 million last year, generating nearly $8.7 billion in revenues. "The growth rate is still the fastest in the world but it's not what it was two or three years ago," said Marina Alekseenkova, an analyst at Rye, Man & Gor Securities . Russia's 2003 beer consumption will grow by 6 to 9 % to about 75.7 million hectolitres, after jumping by 11 % in 2002, analysts estimate. By contrast the European beer market will grow by just 2 to 3 % this year. "The slowdown in the growth rate shows that the market is becoming more competitive, and the only way for foreign producers to appear here is by acquiring Russian brewers," said Alexei Krivoshapko, consumer goods analyst at United Financial Group. "I expect some large Russian breweries will change hands within the next three years."...more info

3. Malt News

Comparison of malt export licenc fixations: EU malt exporters booked 2.038 million tons of export licences until June 24.  It must be expected that total bookings for the crop year 2002/03 will be 150,000 tons less than in the year before.  Contract cancellations, shipment delays and reduced purchases by some countries produced this negative result, which, however, was not as bad as feared earlier in the campaign.



(in tons)	2000 - 2001	2001 - 2002	July 01, 2002 - June 24, 2003
France	523,190	701,134	661,772
Germany	305,980	468,314	408,063
Belgium	277,584	296,368	287,850
U.K.	254,793	350,621	294,995
Finland	65,550	91,890	100,758
Denmark	52,326	96,812	94,791
Sweden	50,847	101,000	76,916
Netherlands	54,835	51,310	66,219
Ireland	26,003	35,145	31,140
Austria	4,850	8,840	8,620
Spain	3,000	2,400	5,640
Greece	1,800	1,744	1,306
Portugal	340	221	85
Italy	-	-	2
Total:	1,621,098	2,205,799	2,038,157





	Total Wheat malt, tons
Total 2000/2001	4,686
Total 2001/2002	12,805
July 01/02 – June 24/03	30,908
	Total Roasted malt, tons
Total 2000/2001	23,967
Total 2001/2002	23,480
July 01/02 – June 24/03	23,603



A U.S./Canadian malting company offers new crop malt at US$ 320,- CIF West Coast of Central America. Argentina sold CIF Brazil at a level of around EUR 320,-, and inside Mercosur they do not have to pay the import tax of 10 % plus 25 % tax on the amount of ocean freight. On the other hand Argetina introduced an export tax of 10 %, even for shipments inside Mercosur.

4. Barley News

USDA Crop Production Highlights for barley: Production for 2003 is forecast at 292 million bushels (6.36 million metric tons), 28 % above 2002. Based on conditions as of July 1, the average yield is forecast at 59.5 bushels (1.3 metric tons) per acre, up 4.6 bushels (0.1 metric tons) from last year. Area harvested, at 4.90 million acres, is up 18 % from 2002. The area harvested for barley in 2003 is up in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States where higher malting barley prices encouraged growers to increase acreage. Also, less abandonment is reported this year due to the improved soil moisture conditions. Area to be harvested remains unchanged, or down slightly, in most other barley producing States. Improved growing conditions across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States are expected to increase yields from last year. The increase in production is being led by North Dakota where producers expect to harvest 810,000 more acres than in 2002 and expect yields to be 9 bushels (0.2 metric tons) higher...more info

Canada: The prospects for Alberta barley producers "look awful" as demand for feed has diminished in the wake of the closing of the Canadian/US border to Canadian cattle. Barley producers "don't really have a choice, because there is no demand," Erroll Anderson with ProMarket Communications told Resource News. Feedlots aren't pricing barley now. "If the border doesn't open within the next month, I think barley is history. Even if the border does open it's not going to be much of a bounce, because the cattle breakevens have to be sharply lower," said Anderson. Barley prices are currently around C$3.00/bu, and Anderson said he can see a drop to C$2.70 delivered in the near future.