Carlsberg has strengthened its position in the beverage market in Laos following the completion of the acquisition of 70% of the shares in Lao Soft Drink Co Ltd. – the bottler of Pepsi in Laos, according to brewer’s press release, December 17. The remaining 30% of the shares are held by the Government of Laos. Holding a 90% market share the company is a major player in the soft drinks market in Laos with brands such as 7-Up and Mirinda.

The production facility is located in the capital Vientiane, and has 290 employees and a capacity of approx. 400,000 hl.

Henrik Juel Andersen, Managing Director of Carlsberg Indochina said: “We believe in the brands and in the Company’s management. It is a very professionally run operation in every aspect, the factory is of international standard, and produces high quality products. Carlsberg is excited about the opportunity to further strengthen the operation in close cooperation with the Government and the Company’s management”. Carlsberg and the Government are already co-operating via the 50/50 joint venture, Lao Beer Co. Ltd. producing the famous Beer Lao, the leading beer brand in Laos.

Vietnam's two breweries will complete their equalization plans and then make initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first quarter of next year, local newspaper Vietnam Investment Review reported, according to Xinhua, December 17.

The Saigon Brewery Corporation (Sabeco) would not choose a foreign strategic partner for its IPO, but the Hanoi Brewery Corporation (Habeco) would, said deputy minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu.

He said Carlsberg was chosen as Habeco's foreign strategic investor, and would come in for a 10-percent stake in the northern beer maker. Meanwhile, Sabeco will sell off 20 percent of its chartered capital at its IPO.

Sabeco, Vietnam's biggest brewery, has a chartered capital of 6.4 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (400 million U.S. dollars), and Habeco 2.3 trillion VND (nearly 143.8 million dollars). This year, Sabeco is estimated to make total revenues of over eight trillion VND (500 million dollars), and Habeco nearly 2.5 trillion VND (some 156 million dollars).

Vietnam is estimated to consume over two billion liters of beer and alcohol in 2010, up from 1.7 billion liters in 2007, the newspaper said.

Vertikalni koordinace a jeji projevy v komoditní vertikale piva E. VESELSKA Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
The paper aims to identify the potential benefits from vertical coordination within the selected commodity chain. The problem is applied to the beer commodity chain because of its high importance in the Czech agri business and foreign trade. On the basis of the vertical analysis of the chosen commodity chain, a mathematic model of consumer price simulation is created and the existence of vertical coordination is verified in the analysed commodity chain. This model assumesthat input price increases are transmitted to consumers. The retail prices of beer a resimulated by holding technology and input-output relationships constant, while production as well as marketing costs change according to the changes in input prices. The simulated retail price is then compared with the actual retail price to indicate productivity gains resulting from vertical coordination passed on to consumers. The result sof the Model of Retail Price Simulation showt hat Czech brewery industry was in the observed period (1994–2002) vertically coordinated. Key words: retail price simulation, vertical coordination, agri-food chain and beer
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