Shipments of beer and beerlike alcoholic beverages by the top five Japanese breweries fell 3.1 % in 2005. This is for the first decline in two years. The decline is attributed to the colder than usual winter, the Brewers Association of Japan reported on January 17.

Shipments by Kirin Brewery Co., Asahi Breweries Ltd., Suntory Ltd., Orion Breweries Ltd. and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. came to 501.01 million cases. One case holds 20 633-milliliter bottles.

The downturn also reflects how strong sales were boosted by the hot summer of 2004, according to the Brewers Association of Japan and beer makers.

Beer shipments dropped 7.9 % to 282.33 million cases, marking the ninth consecutive year of decline. Shipments of "happoshu" low-malt beer slumped 24.8 % to 139.26 million cases -- the third straight year of decline.

But shipments of so-called third-category beer, including beerlike sparkling drinks, showed sharp growth.

South Korea's second-leading beer maker, Oriental Brewery Co., has gained a bigger market share than industry leader Hite Co. in monthly sales of draft beer for the first time in 11 years, Asia Pulse and Yonhap cited an industry association saying on January 17.

Oriental Brewery's flagship beer Cass led the market with a 46.2 % market share in October. Hite Brewery's leading item Hite was the No. 2 player with a 43.9 % share, the Korea Alcohol & Liquor Industry Association said. According to the survey results of Oriental Brewery, Cass controlled 44.8 % of the market in November and 45.8 % in the following month.

"Our six years of working to broaden our popularity among people in their 20s has finally started to pay off," said Oriental Brewery President Kim Jun-young. The company said people in the 20-29 age bracket consume 49 per cent of the draft beer sold in South Korea.

As of 2005, the domestic market for draft beer amounted to 354 million liters and accounted for 23 per cent of the total beer market.

San Miguel Corp., the Philippines' largest food and beverage conglomerate, announced on January 18 that sales revenue at its San Miguel Guangdong Brewery in southern China rose 21 % to about 21.38 million dollars last year, with sales volume increasing by 16 percent over 2004, Dow Jones Commodities News communicated.

It said sales volume for 2005 at the Guangdong brewery increased 16% on year as a result of aggressive marketing of the Dragon beer brand, particularly in southern China.

San Miguel also sells its flagship brand San Miguel Pale Pilsen and the Valor brand in China.

The Guangdong brewery was inaugurated in 1994. San Miguel A-shares closed steady on Wednesday at 64.00 pesos, and its B-shares closed steady at 87.50. (One dollar = 52.76 pesos)

ZAO Obolon, one of the leading beer makers of Ukraine, announced on January 13 that they have started the construction of a new malting plant in Khmelnitsk region. The new plant is planned to produce about 60 thousand tonnes of malt per year and to start the production process by 2007. A spokesman of the company mentioned that Obolon plans to invest about EUR 20 million in the construction of the plant, not taking into the account the investments made so far. It is supposed that the plant is to supply with malt only Obolon brewery.

Preliminary works on the project were started in January 2005. Now the main body of the plant is being constructed.

Nowadays the leading Ukraine’s malting producers are Slavutsky malting plant, owned by Soufflet Group, Malteurop company, ZAO Obolon and brewing company Sarmat.

In 2005 ZAO Obolon increased beer production by 37.7% compared to 2004 up to 7.68 million hl.

According to Ukrpivo, the volume of Ukrainian beer market is to account around 23 million hl when in 2005 it came to 21.2 million hl.

Kirin Brewery teamed up with Lion Nathan Ltd. of Australia and San Miguel Corp. of the Philippines in buying malt from Australia and China for this year's beer production, Kyodo communicated on January 14.

Kirin holding a 46 % stake in Lion Nathan and a 20 % share in San Miguel, has launched the joint procurement framework so that the three can negotiate for lower prices with malt producers in those countries, the economic daily said. Kirin buys about 180,000 tons of malt a year for beer to be supplied in the Japanese market. Of that, about 25 % is bought in Australia.

Kirin is negotiating prices for the Australian portion of the malt through the joint procurement framework. In China, Kirin's two Chinese units -- a wholly owned subsidiary in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, and an affiliate in Dalian, Liaoning Province, have joined forces with San Miguel's four beer factories in negotiations with local malt producers, it said.