Listed brewer Grupa Żywiec is planning investments to meet the expected growth of the beer market, Warsaw Business Journal posted on August 30th.

The firm will expand its production capacity by 1.5 million hl by Q1 2008 at a cost of zł.200 million. Żywiec has so far not provided data on its quantitative H1 sales, but it is known that the leading brands recorded a growth.

The highest growth in sales was recorded by Warka, whose sales rose 31%. This is an important achievement, as the brand is a direct competitor to Kompania Piwowarska's Tyskie brand. Sales of Heineken increased by 21%, which was related to changing the packaging and introducing 5-liter kegs to the market.

"Interest in the product surpassed our expectations," said Chris Barrow, president of Grupa Żywiec. The main brand, Żywiec, had a growth of sales of 15.5% and for the first time the brand sold three million hl to the consumers in summer. Foreign sales rocketted by 47% in the first six months of the year.

Heineken NV said it expects a response in November from the European Commission on its appeal to a fine for involvement in an alleged beer cartel with peer Dutch brewers Royal Grolsch NV and Bavaria NV, AFX News communicated on Augsut 29th.

The EC fined Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria a combined 273.8 mln eur in April for alleged price-fixing in the 1990s. Belgian brewer InBev SA avoided a commission fine because it acted as the cartel whistleblower.

Heineken appealed the fine in June and chief executive officer Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said today the company expects a response from the EC in November.

But he added at a press conference after Heineken reported better-than-expected first half results this morning that the entire legal process might take until 2010 before it is resolved.

Van Boxmeer also repeated Heineken's statement that it is not guilty of alleged price fixing. Both Grolsch and Bavaria are also appealing the EC fine.

The third-largest U.S. beer maker by sales, Coors Brewing Co, a unit of Molson Coors Brewing Co, has created a new subsidiary to develop high-end beers, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on August 29th.

AC Golden Brewing Co will "introduce above-premium beers to the market-place" at a deliberate pace, Coors Brewing told beer wholesalers in an email last week, the Journal reported.

The formation of the subsidiary comes amid slow growth in the American beer business, where upscale "craft" beers and imports have outperformed conventional domestic beers, the report said.

The company, the third-largest U.S. beer maker by sales, said it would cultivate the upscale beers at a similar pace to how it built Blue Moon, a Belgian-style wheat ale, over a decade, the report said. The new unit will be run by Glenn Knippenberg, an industry veteran who worked previously for Coors Brewing, the report said.

A Molson Coors spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

For 2007-2008 barley production is estimated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to increase by 24% to 11.8 Mt, close to the 10-year average, due to a larger seeded area. However, supply is expected to only increase slightly due to significantly lower carry-in stocks.

Barley exports for 2007-2008 are forecast to rise sharply, while domestic use is expected to be marginally lower. Carry-out stocks are projected to decrease by 13%. The average off-Board feed barley price (No.1 CW I/S Lethbridge) is forecast to remain at a historically high level, but slightly lower than in 2006-07, as the increased supply and the strong Canadian dollar more than offsets the support of slightly higher US corn prices.

Prices for wheat and barley are breaking records, fuelling concerns customers could be paying even more for staple foods, Food Week posted on August 28th.

Bread, baked goods, beef, chicken, eggs, beer, and a range of other products are all exposed to grain prices.

The AWB has this week increased its estimated pool return for its harvest by AU 30 a ton, making it AU $300 a ton for the first time.

The coming barley harvest is in a similar situation, rising to AU 325 a ton for feed barley and $336 for malt barley– a jump of nearly AU $20 in a week, or AU $70 in three weeks.

This has been blamed on problems in the Ukraine, one of the bigger suppliers to Saudi Arabia, the biggest feed barley imported in the world.

“We have never seen prices like this,” said WA-based grain group CBH’s acting senior trading manager Jason Craig. “This is unknown territory.”

Goodman Fielder told the West Australian that it aimed to recover raw material cost rises from customers, while George Weston Foods has put in a 2.8% price increase, its third in a year, due to higher input costs.