The South Australian Supreme Court hands down a pivotal judgement on October 17 regarding Lion Nathan's hostile A$352 million takeover bid for Coopers Brewery, according to The New Zealand Herald .

The court has still to decide whether to overturn or uphold a decision that said Lion Nathan's pre-emptive rights could be removed by a vote of Coopers shareholders.

Norway has the most expensive beer off all Nordic countries. The beer in Norway is twice as expensive as Danish beer. One litre of Danish beer costs NOK 7.32 when taxes have been deducted, while the Norwegian beer costs NOK 13.3, Norway Post reported on October 18. On the other side the Swedes have to spend NOK 11.26 plus tax.

Norway is first as well in this list when it comes to tax, since 62 % of what Norwegians pay in total for the beer ends up in the state coffers. In Finland 51 % of the total cost ends up as tax, while in Sweden the percentage is 49%, and in Denmark 42 %.

Asahi brewery starts a 150-million-baht (about 3.7 mln US$) campaign in order to reposition its brand in Thailand and seeking to lift sales to one billion baht in 2006 and get more than a 10% share of the imported bottled beer market. Moreover, Asahi expected to create a stronger brand image among its target customers, said Kanchit Singsuwan, general manager of B&A Distribution Co, The Bankog Post announced on October 14.

The ''Forget the Line'' campaign will use television, radio, print, outdoor media and point-of-sale promotions, and will put a strong emphasis on event marketing. Activities will be held in Bangkok and other big centres such as Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Phuket.

Asahi expects 370 million baht in sales this year. In the first nine months, it reported sales of 300 million baht compared with 180 million year-on-year. Silver, as seen on Asahi beer cans, would be used the dominant colour in the campaign, and the company hopes that customers will begin to associate the colour with the beer.

Finnish maltsters succeeded to sell large quantities to Russia, at undisclosed prices, for delivery in 2005/06. The quantities are estimated by analysts to be around 30-40.000 metric tonnes. Finland has the advantage of identical rail gauges as Russia, their deliveries can continue in winter, when Baltic sea navigation, and especially the entrance to the port of St. Petersburg are hindered by ice. Inquiries are also in the market from Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia.

ABB Grain Ltd has reviewed its gross barley pool indicators for 2005/2006 and has reduced its estimate by A$2/tonne for Malting Barley, to A$190/t, the company announced on October 17. This is for Vic, NSW and SA

The company’s estimate for Feed Barley remains unchanged at A$155/t.

ABB Grain general manager marketing, Nigel Officer, said the adjustment was in response to current supply and demand for malting barley within Australia.

“The increasing projected size of the malting barley crop for the coming harvest in Australia has influenced the decision to make this reduction,” Mr Officer said.

Current gross barley pool indicators for 2004/2005 are:

Victoria and New South Wales*

Pool 1
Malt A$220-A$230/t
Malt 3 A$195-A$205/t
Feed A$165-A$175/t
Feed A$160-A$170/t*

Pool 2
Malt A$218-A$228/t
Malt 3 A$190-A$200/t
Feed A$160-A$170/t

Finnish maltsters succeeded to sell large quantities to Russia, at undisclosed prices, for delivery in 2005/06. The quantities are estimated by analysts to be around 30-40.000 metric tonnes. Finland has the advantage of identical rail gauges as Russia, their deliveries can continue in winter, when Baltic sea navigation, and especially the entrance to the port of St. Petersburg are hindered by ice. Inquiries are also in the market from Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia.

In the last three years the world hop acreage declined by about 700 hectares. This is an effect of the shrinkage in the acreage in Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, U.S.A. and China, according to the Hopsteiner analysts. This trend was to some extent changed as the 2005 acreage in the USA has increased by 600 hectares.

The developments in the crop 2004 market showed that the time of overproduction and excess stock would be to end.

Thus there is an expectation that the 2005-06 bitter hops market will be balanced. In the case of aroma hops it is already apparent that demand is explicitly higher than the supply. Prices have already increased accordingly.