Peru: Backus beer company to improve plant with US$250 million program

Peru's President Alan Garcia attended a special ceremony in which the beer manufacturing company, Backus presented its investment plan for the upcoming year, LIP reported September 26.

Robert Priday, president of Backus announced that the beer company planned to invest $US250 million in a project which is to be carried out within the next year.

It was announced that the multi-million dollar project has been targeted primarily towards the purchase of machinery that will allow the beer company to massively increase its production nationwide. Moreover, the project has been designed to improve logistics so that its products are received by consumers in an optimum state.

Priday reported that the beer production plant in Motupe, Lambayeque, Peru would receive over US$11 million, an investment which would increase capacity by 50 percent and allow the plant to produce over 200 million liters of beer annually. This has been reported to be the second most important factory in Peru.

The Backus president proudly announced that due to the million dollar program the latest technology would be purchased and the beer production process would be greatly improved all around.

"Peru is in a great moment in which it can receive investments from around the world," stated President Alan ... More Info

Top News

Poland: Rising prices fail to stop record beer sales

Beer sales soared unexpectedly in the eight months to the end of August, jumping by 12% compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released by ZPPP, the industry body, Puls Biznesu published September 28.

Brewers sold 25.4 million hectolitres of beer over this period, up from 22.7 million, and per capita beer consumption hit 95 litres, significantly above the 90 litres considered by analysts to reflect the long-term potential of the Polish market.

The strong figures, which came despite bad weather and the fact that last year's figures were boosted by the football World Cup, took even brewers by surprise. "This is a fantastic and surprising result," said Marcin Piróg, spokesman for Carlsberg Polska. He attributed the increase to strong economic growth and rising disposable incomes, but also to changing consumer habits as a result of brewers' successful efforts to develop their offer and promote a beer culture. "Poles now consume beer the Czech way, i.e. almost on a daily basis".

Sales growth was fastest at Kompania Piwowarska, the market leader, up by 17%, helping it to increase its market share to 40%. Żywiec, the number two player, saw sales increase by 14%, whereas Carlsberg reported a ... More Info

Top News

World: Premium beers performance is fantastic with 8% growth per year

The dynamic growth of the Premium and Superpremium sectors has been one of the global Beer market’s key recent developments, Canadean reported September 26.

According to a brand new special report from leading beverage industry analysts Canadean, over the last five years, sales of Premium and Superpremium Beer have grown by an average of 8% per annum and at twice the rate of Discount and Mainstream alternatives.

Driven by consumers and producers alike, this success can be attributed to a number of factors. Consumer tastes are changing and, armed with increasing disposable incomes, many consumers have ‘upgraded’ to the more expensive brands. There has also been a cultural shift away from the traditional ‘session’ drinking. Instead, there is a growing tendency for consumers to drink lower quantities of stronger Beer.

Meanwhile, attracted by the higher margins, the major brewers have all added Premium and Superpremium Beers to their portfolios. These brands have been targeted towards specific markets and supported strongly by extensive promotional campaigns. Of the major brewers, the portfolios of Heineken and Carlsberg are influenced most heavily.

Heineken has focused on its Premium Heineken and Amstel brands in addition to product and packaging innovations. Organic growth has been coupled with ... More Info

Top News

Australia: Yatala Brewery to keep producing

Foster's Group Limited (Foster's) has hit back at claims by unions that up to 200 employees are set to take industrial action at the company's Yatala brewery, Foster’s announced in a press release, September 27.

Foster's General Manager Yatala, Noel Jago, said that the LHMU, AMWU and ETU were deliberately misleading the public by suggesting that the vast majority of the company's workforce would walk off the job.

"The three unions involved have just conducted a secret ballot over a proposal to take protected action," he said.

"However, what the unions haven't communicated is that only half of the 295-strong workforce at Yatala are actually union members and therefore participated in the vote.

"Of that number, only 93 people voted in favour of taking industrial action, with a majority of these indicating a preference for 4 hour stoppages.

"This translates to just 31% of the Yatala workforce voting in favour of the action, hardly the 'vast majority' to which the unions keep referring in their vocal campaign against us," he said.

"Only union members will be able to participate in the action, which means that whatever happens, at least half of our workforce will still be on the job."

Mr Jago said that Foster's was yet to ... More Info

Top News

China: Beer market still very fragmented

The Chinese beer market is still a fragmented market with the top four breweries in China controlling only 45% of the total market share, Business Wire reported September 28.

The beer market in China is not national - it is an aggregation of local markets with each region having specific tastes, preferences and spending pattern. As a result of the localized nature of the beer market, small regional breweries dominate these fragmented markets. These regional local brands have a nationwide market share of less than 2%.

Foreign breweries have time and again tried to penetrate the Chinese beer market with differentiated strategies. The foreign breweries like SABMiller, Inbev and Anheuser-Busch with global presence and financial clout have entered the Chinese market through joint ventures/partnerships with domestic breweries. These global firms, mostly in partnerships with national breweries have opted for inorganic growth by acquiring the small regional players and as a result the fragmented market with the total number of breweries exceeding 800 has now reduced to around 500.

The Chinese beer market is still a fragmented market with the top four breweries in China controlling only 45% of the total market share. China Resources Snow Breweries is the top brewery ... More Info

Top News

USA: Barley markets continue their price surge at record high levels

Backed with good feed barley export numbers and prospects of lower carryover stocks, barley prices continued on the upward journey in record-breaking areas the past two weeks, Farm & Ranch Guide reported September 27. Malting barley prices climbed to $5.25 a bushel in several locations and pulled feed barley prices along with them, with some elevators quoting the same price for feed barley.

However, John Zietz, barley supply chain manager for Cargill Malt, said a more accurate description of the situation is feed barley prices are pushing malting barley prices higher.

He noted there might be some price support over concern for dwindling barley supplies and the high prices for all major commodities, but they play a minor role when compared to current export figures.

The 2007 barley crop was good in some areas and a little disappointing in others.

“I would call the crop in North Dakota the proverbial mixed bag, because you always have areas where they have hail, too much rain or not enough. But we did have better topsoil and subsoil moisture going into the spring season, so that helped. And we did have some of that late heat, which hit the crop harder than it should have,” he said.

“I ... More Info

Top News

Europe: 2007 malting barley crop again disappointing

This year’s malting barley crop in Germany has again been a disappointment, analysts of Bestmalz reported on September 26. In addition to a decline in the area of cultivation land of around 10% nationwide, a lack of rain in April also contributed to the below average crop. The low crop entails an average protein level of the delivered malting barley of around 12%. The low crop yield and the price development of the past weeks have caused the malt industry to tolerate barley with a protein level of up to 13% upon delivery. The sorting of the barley varies greatly depending on region. The changeable weather conditions during the crop led to goods containing more moisture than usual compared to last year. The main malting barley variety in Germany continues to be Braemar as well as, to a limited extent, Auriga, Belana, Pasadena and Scarlett. Trials have been conducted with the new varieties Marthe and Power.

Similar experiences have also been noted in France, the Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland . Here, too, low crop yield and high protein levels characterise the crop; the situation is slightly better in Great Britain and Scandinavia. The most important varieties in the EU ... More Info

Top News

Authors
SVENSSON BIRTE(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) BOZONNET SOPHIE(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) BOZONNET SOPHIE(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) WILLEMOEES MARTIN(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) WILLEMOEES MARTIN(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) HACHEM MAHER ABOU(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) FUKUDA KENJI(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) FUKUDA KENJI(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) KRAMHOFT BIRTE(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) KRAMHOFT BIRTE(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) MAEDA KENJI(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) MAEDA KENJI(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) HAEGGLUND PER(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) FINNIE CHRISTINE(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) BONSAGER BIRGIT C.(Technical Univ. Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Dnk) BONSAGER BIRGIT C.(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) MORI HARUHIDE(Carlsberg Lab., Copenhagen Valby, Dnk) MORI HARUHIDE(Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo) SIGURSKJOLD BENT W.(Univ. Copenhagen, Dnk) ROBERT XAVIER(Ibcp, Lyon, Fra) JENSEN MALENE H.(Ibcp, Lyon, Fra) TRANIER SAMUEL(Ibcp, Lyon, Fra) AGHAJARI NUSHIN(Ibcp, Lyon, Fra) HASER RICHARD(Ibcp, Lyon, Fra) Journal Title;J Appl Glycosci

Abstract;
Barley .ALPHA.-amylase binds sugars at two sites on the enzyme surface in addition to the active site. Crystallography and site-directed mutagenesis highlight the importance of aromatic residues at these surface sites as demonstrated by Kd values determined for .BETA.-cyclodextrin by surface plasmon resonance and for starch granules by adsorption analysis. Activity towards amylopectin and amylose follows two different kinetic models, degradation of amylopectin being composed of a fast and a slow component, perhaps reflecting attack on A and B chains, respectively, whereas amylose hydrolysis follows a simple Michaelian kinetics. .BETA.-cyclodextrin binding at surface sites inhibits only the fast reaction in amylopectin degradation. Site-directed mutagenesis and activity analysis, furthermore show that one of the surface binding sites as well as individual subsites in the active site cleft have distinct roles in the multiple attack on amylose. Although the two isozymes AMY1 and AMY2 share ligands for three structural calcium ions, they differ importantly in the effect of calcium on activity and stability, AMY1 having the higher affinity and the lower stability. The role of the individual calcium ions is studied by mutagenesis, crystallography and microcalorimetry. Further improvement of recombinant AMY2 production allows future direct mutational analysis in this isozyme. Specific proteinaceous inhibitors act on .ALPHA.-amylases of different origin. In the complex of barley .ALPHA.-amylase/subtilisin inhibitor (BASI) with AMY2, a fully hydrated calcium ion at the protein interface mediates contact between inhibitor residues and the enzyme catalytic groups in a manner that depends on calcium and which can be suppressed by site-directed mutagenesis of Glu168 in BASI.... (author abst.)
... Load full article, 163 pages, 480 Kb, PDF file