Soaring beer price dampened the brewing industry’s growth party with volume surge softening in the recent quarters, TNN reported January 8. India’s beer consumption that clocked 28% jump in the last financial year is growing at 14% in the first nine month period of FY2008.

This is despite a robust 20% growth reported in the April-June quarter. The subsequent two quarters saw volume growth dropping as beer price jumped between 12-22% in key markets on the back of increased State levies. Senior officials at the brewing giants UB and SABMiller confirmed growth rate of 13-14% in the first nine months.

There could be some more immediate softening on the anvil, as the big growth markets of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have seen a price hike in the last weeks of December. The biggest guzzler Andhra Pradesh with around 12% and Tamil Nadu with over 15% growth have been driving the year-to-date growth.

The consumer price on strong beer in Andhra Pradesh is up Rs 8 on a 650 ml pack to touch Rs 70, while in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which is the second largest market, there is a similar Rs 8 hike taking the 650 ml price to Rs ...More Info

Under a new CWB program, farmers will be offered the option of cash-price contracts for their malting barley, plus the benefits of single-desk selling through the CWB, according to CWB’s press release, January 9.

If these contracts were available through selecting companies today, the upfront cash price for malting barley producers would be over $5 per bushel, backed off to west central Saskatchewan, with flexibility to negotiate additional terms directly with the companies.

“We’ve developed an innovative program that delivers the options farmers are looking for in barley marketing,” said Allen Oberg, CWB farmer-elected director from Forestburg, Alberta. “Farmers have indicated that they want a strong, viable CWB as well as more choice. Under this program, they will have both.”

The program announced by the CWB today is called CashPlus and is designed to suit farmer needs and add flexibility in malting barley pricing. It also responds to the malting industry’s desire for improved operational certainty in the aftermath of upheavals in the Canadian malting barley industry during 2007.

Under CashPlus, the CWB will establish a guaranteed cash price for farmers that reflects market values. Participating selectors will then contract directly with farmers. The CWB will also pay a potential additional premium to farmers ...More Info

IVAN BOHAČENKO(1), JOSEF CHMELÍK(2) and VRATISLAV PSOTA(3) (1)Food Research Institute Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; (2)Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic; (3)Research Institute of Brewing and Malting, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
BOHAČENKO I., CHMELÍK J., PSOTA V. (2006): Determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering. Czech J. Food Sci., 24: 11–18. A method was proposed for the determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley and for the use in plant breeding stations and brewing/malting laboratories. A combination was used of classical methods (incl. crushing of barley kernels by a roll crusher, steeping in 0.02M HCl, repeated rubbing and filtering through the sieve of 0.08 mm), and novel pieces of know-how (treatment with β-glucanase and cellulase, alkalisation at pH = 10.0 and centrifugation of crude starch suspension through the layer of CsCl). In this way, barley starch of high purity was obtained at a very low loss, using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering for the determination of the size distribution of starch granules. The boundary of the particle size between the peaks of A-starch and B-starch (7 μm) was evaluated from the distribution curves, while the contents of A- and B-starches were calculated from the cumulative curves. As a whole, the method was internally validated and for its repeatability and uncertainty of measurement the stimates of standard deviation s = 1.56 and confidence interval L1,2 = x ± 1.9% were established, respectively. Taking into account the generally well known difficulties associated with the extraction of substances from biological materials, in this case the separation of starch from barley kernels, we believe that the proposed method will bring satisfactory results in practice. Keywords: barley; A-starch; B-starch; starch granules; Low Angle Laser Light Scattering
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