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• China: Global beer giant Interbrew, which has already spent $600 million in China buying stakes in 17 brewers, is looking for more acquisitions ...more info



• USA: International Malting Co., which is building a new barley malting plant just north of Great Falls, is being asked by the state Board of Investments to document how many ...more info



• Russia: Russian beer giant, Baltika Brewery, announced on March 26 its revised results for 2003. Company’s net profit decreased 10.2% to US$ 123 million from US$ 137 million in 2002 ...more info



• USA: Coors Brewing Company announced on March 26 Aspen Edge - its super-premium, low-carb light lager-is now available at on- and off-premise outlets in 17 new markets including Arizona ...more info



• Chile: The Chilean holding company, Quinenco, announced that, while sales in calendar 2003 fell, net profit rose to CLP37.69 billion (US$63m) from a loss in 2002 of CLP76.24 billion ...more info



• Quilmes Industrial (Quinsa) S.A. announced on March 26 that, following the substantial completion of the market purchase program previously authorized by the Company ...more info



• Australia: J.Boag & Son, Australian beer maker, owned by San Miguel Australia Holdings, announced a fivefold increase in profits for 2003 ...more info



• USA, New York: The auditor for Redhook Ale Brewery Inc. has questioned whether the microbrewer can survive if a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch Cos. is terminated early ...more info



• Scottish & Newcastle has recently posted the results for the year to 31 December 2003, which show a good performance from International Beer, improving sales trends in the UK ...more info



Brewery News

Japan: Japanese beverage company, Kirin, has announced that a new brand of the low-malt beer happoshu will soon enter the Japanese market. The company said the brand would hit the shelves on 21 April. “An advertising campaign for the brand centers on Japan’s national soccer team during the qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The qualifying round begins in the autumn of this year. The design of the new cans features an illustration of the national team,” the company said.The drink will be priced at Y145 (US$1.36) per 350ml can, while the 500ml can will retail at Y201. Kirin predicts a rise in sales of beer and happoshu in 2004 of 2.2% at 187.2m cases of beer. Figures released last month, however, showed that Japanese shipments of beer and happoshu by Japan's five top brewers fell by 11.4% in January, compared to the same period last year, to 24.23 million cases.

Serbia: Carlsberg A/S announced on 26 March 2004 to the Copenhagen Stock Exchange that public tender in Serbia gave Carlsberg a 94% shareholding. In September 2003, a direct placing of shares provided Carlsberg with 51% of the shares in Serbia’s third largest brewery Pivara Celarevo A. D. Carlsberg was required to make a public offer for the remaining part of the share capital, which has resulted in Carlsberg now holding a 94% shareholding. The total price of the 94% shareholding is € 52 million/DKK 387 million. The Serbian brewery is situated in the town of Celarevo in the Vojvodina province about 130 kilometres north of the capital Beograd. Its only brand, Lav, is the second strongest standard brand in the country. The brewery has a capacity of 1.3 million hl beer. In 2002, Pivara Celarevo had a turnover of €23m, an operating profit (based on local accounting principles) of €5.6m and sold 780,000 hl beer, corresponding to a market share of approximately 15%.

Russia: One of the largest Russian beer makers, Ochakovo Brewery, has registered for the first time since 1999 a drop in beer production. The company produced 7.5% less beer in 2003 then in 2002 from 572 million litres to 532 million litres of beer. Ochakovo is the largest national brewery without any foreign investments. According to Business Analitika last year the company controlled 7% of beer sales in Russia. In 2003 Ochakovo sold 704 million litres of beverages. Ochakovo is the first largest Russian brewer, which reduced its production volumes of beer last year. This year the company intends to increase its beer output. According Ochakovo, sales volumes of beer will increase by 5-7% in 2004. The increase will come from selling new brands, which are to be launched this year. The company plans to sell about 10 million litres of its first licensed brand Altstein, 5 million litres of another licensed brand, which name was not revealed and 10 million litres of a local brand.

Food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp. saw its net profits expand by 16 % to P1.06 billion in the first two months of the year. In a statement, San Miguel said its domestic beverage business, particularly beer sales, steered the company’s profit growth from the previous year’s P918 million, ABS CBN posted on March 29. The company is confident its strong performance for the first two months would be sustained for the rest of the year on the back of expected higher consumer spending. “During the first two months of the year, San Miguel has already achieved close to 80 percent of its first-quarter earnings in 2003. Clearly it is evident that the company is well poised to take advantage of additional consumer spending given an election year,” San Miguel said. This year’s two-month operating income amounted to P2 billion, 32% higher from the P1.5 billion in earnings during the same period last year. San Miguel recorded consolidated net sales revenues to P24.4 billion in January and February this year, or 14-percent higher from the previous year’s level. In real terms, corporate volume growth is at 5 %. “This is attributable to the robust trade turnovers of the beverage business. Consolidated volume growth of San Miguel’s beverage business recorded a 13-percent year-on-year expansion. Leading the pack is San Miguel’s domestic beer division with volume growth estimated at close to 30 %,” the company said. Last week, San Miguel said it recently started directly exporting poultry products to Japan. The company signed an agreement with Japanese meatpacking company Yonekyu Corp. for the export of 28 metric tons of deboned cut-up chicken parts to Japan. San Miguel is negotiating for a third shipment of chicken exports with Yonekyu.

The Baltic Beer Market, 2003

Total Baltic beer market 505 million litres.
Latvia beer market 147 million litres.
Estonia beer market 97 million litres.
Lithuania beer market 261 million litres.

Average per capita consumption in the Baltic countries 70 litres in 2003.



Baltic Beer Market. Market share, %
Company	2002	2003
BBH	45 %	44 %
Olvi	13 %	15 %
Bryggerigruppen	13 %	11 %
Others	27 %	27 %
Import	2 %	4 %




Latvia Beer Market, 2003			Estonia Beer Market, 2003			Lithuania Beer Market
BBH	43 %		BBH	43 %		BBH	45 %
Cesis	11 %		A Le Coq (Tartu)	36 %		Kalnapilis+Tauras	21 %
Lacplesis	11 %		Viru	10 %		Gubernija	10 %
Grigis	10 %		Imports	8 %		Ragutis	9 %
Kimmel	4 %		Other	5 %		Imports	4 %
Other	20 %					Other	11 %
Imports	1 %



Malt News



There is a large demand for malt in Mexico, which comes mainly from the domestic beer industry, Alejandro Ruiz, Commercial Officer Canadian Embassy, Mexico told Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Mexico is among the top 10 producers of beer around the world. During the period 1998-2002 the production of beer in Mexico showed an increase of 16%, jumping from 5.5 billion litres to 6.3 billion litres. The beer industry in Mexico is dominated by two companies: Grupo Modelo, which has a market share of around 56.4% and FEMSA Cerveza with a share of 43.6%. These two companies are the largest demanders of malt. Mexican consumers prefer beer above other alcoholic beverages mainly due to its low price. In 2002 the annual per-capita consumption of beer in Mexico was estimated at 50 litres. Over the last few years the imports of malt have been growing in order to satisfy the growing demand from the domestic beer industry. During the period 1998-2002 the Mexican imports of malt grew from 118,321 tonnes with a value of US$34.6 million to 126,051 tonnes with a value of US$44 million. The U.S. was the main supplier of malt to Mexico during the analyzed period with a market share of 74%, followed by Canada with a share of 26%.

Russia: Combined customs duty on malt import in Russia might be implemented from June 1, 2004, Vyacheslav Mamontov, the head of Russian Beer Union told at the online press conference on March 30. Now the government is discussing the respective proposal made by the members of Russian Beer Union. Combined customs duty on malt import would be 10% from the customs costs but not less than 22 euro per tonne. This step will allow assuring equal competitive conditions on the Russian beer market for both big breweries, which output their own malt, and small brewers-importers. Now the customs duty on malt import in Russia accounts 10% from the customs cost of malt. The companies of Russian brewing industry came with the initiative to introduce the combined customs duty. The brewers’ proposal is based on the fact that some Russian malt importers are lowering the customs costs of malt artificially, that is a violation of fair competition.




Barley News



EU: 2003-grain crops in the new EU member states of Central/Eastern Europe were very disappointing. The countries have secured supplies by export embargoes and quotas, general duty-free imports or duty-free quotas. After May 1st the EU Commission has the right to put a levy on extra large supplies in the new countries. The trade, however, rather believes that supplies will still be tight in Central Europe, and that there will be additional purchases from the old EU. The new member states will add round about 8.5 million tonnes of barley to EU supplies. Poland's crop is usually between 3.0 and 3.5 million tonnes. The Czech Republic expects a crop of 1.8 million tonnes, Slovakia 0.8 million tonnes. The latter two countries have good supplies and well organized malting barley markets.

Australia: Demand for malting barley is tipped to reach one million tonnes by next year, a study of national analysts revealed. Grain leaders will meet in Perth from March 30 for the industry's annual week-long conference, but this year they will agree on revamping almost the entire production system. It is being driven by new projections, which suggest demand for Australian grain – wheat, barley, oats and canola – will surge around 500 % by 2025. Even traditional critics, Grains Council president Keith Perrett and Grain Growers of Australia president Ron Greentree, agreed on the proposals to be put at the conference. The key proposal is the creation is a grains business forum that will bring together growers, grain handling companies and marketing organizations such as monopoly wheat exporter AWB Ltd. The forum would act as a collaborative agreement. Sitting beside the forum will be the various grain representative organisations that will also work together to respond to new research breakthroughs and market changes. Industry leaders have already identified research and development, industry infrastructure and genetically modified crops as key issues...more info

Theoretical malt prices.

EURO = USD 1.2178 March 31, 2004  Crop year  2003  Parity  FOB Antwerp  Position  Apr 2004-Sept 2004  Conditioning  Bulk   In bags  Bulk containers  In bags in containers  Malting barley variety  EURO  USD  EURO  USD  EURO  USD  EURO  USD  2RS  Scarlett  255.00  310.50  270.00  329.00  266.50  324.50  276.00  336.00  2RS  Prestige/Cellar  253.50  309.00  269.00  327.50  265.50  323.00  275.00  334.50  2RS  Aspen  252.50  307.50  267.50  326.00  264.00  321.50  273.50  333.00  2RS  Optic  252.50  307.50  267.50  326.00  264.00  321.50  273.50  333.00  2RS  Astoria  251.50  306.00  266.50  324.50  263.00  320.00  272.50  331.50  2RS  Cork   251.50  306.00  266.50  324.50  263.00  320.00  272.50  331.50  2RS   Average price  253.00  308.00  268.00  326.50  264.50  322.00  274.00  333.50  2RS  FAQ  250.00  304.50  265.50  323.00  261.50  318.50  271.00  330.00  6RW  Esterel   nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  *  Asia Malt 70/30  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  **  Asia Malt 50/50  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq  nq




* - 70/30 = 70% Average two Rows Spring and 30% Six Rows Winter
** - 50/50 = 50% Average two Rows Spring and 50% Six Rows Winter



Theoretical malt prices for crop 2004 are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting barley prices. French barley prices. Nominal prices.



EURO = USD 1.2178 March 31, 2004
Crop year		2003		2004
Parity		FOB Creil		FOB Creil
Position		July 2003		July 2004
Type	Variety	EURO	USD	EURO	USD
2RS	Scarlett	123.50	150.50	128.00	156.00
2RS	Prestige/Cellar	122.50	149.50	127.00	155.00
2RS	Aspen	121.50	148.00	126.00	153.50
2RS	Optic	121.50	148.00	126.00	153.50
2RS	Astoria	120.50	147.00	125.00	152.50
2RS	Cork	120.50	147.00	125.00	152.50
6RW	Esterel	nq	nq	117.00	142.50

nq - Not quoted

Prices for Danish and UK malting barley are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Graph of the week






Agenda


April 2004: InterFood; INTERFOOD UZBEKISTAN /INTERFOODTECH 2004; INTERFOOD ST. PETERSBURG 2004; SIBFOODEXPO 2004; BEER. WINES & DRINKS International Beer; World Beer Cup; 2004 National Craft Brewers Conference; FOODASIA 2004; ASTANA FOOD 2004; INTERFOOD AZERBAIJAN/ INTERFOODTECH 2004; 43rd MBAA District Caribbean Convention; IFEX 2004; EXPOVIVIENDA 2004;
May 2004: EBC SYMPOSIUM 'FOOD SAFETY & TRACEABILITY'; CANADEAN'S 4th INTERNATIONAL BEER CONFERENCE; CITBUSMED 2004; PIVO, GASTRO, BAKERY / Bulgaria; ALCO + SOFT 2004 / Ukraine; FOOD & DRINKS/FOOD TECHNOLOGY 2004 / Moldova; Beer International Brewing Technology Exhibition / Russia;
June 2004: ALIMENTARIA MEXICO International Food and Beverages Exhibition; Hotelympia; 10th international symposium on pre-harvest sprouting in cereals; BevTek / BrewTek; IGC GRAINS CONFERENCE 2004; 26th Annual National Homebrewers Conference; Coceral Congress 2004; The 9th International Barley Genetics Symposium;

More events are available on site e-malt.com

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