SABMiller plc issued its interim management statement for the group’s third quarter and for the nine months ended 31 December 2007 which also represents a trading update for the same period, according to company’s press release, January 17. The calculation of organic growth rates shown below excludes volumes for acquired businesses for the first 12 months after an acquisition.

The group’s lager volume growth was 7% for the third quarter. On an organic basis, lager volumes for the third quarter grew by 4%, and 9% for the year to date. Revenue continues to benefit from price increases which have offset the impact of higher input costs. The underlying financial performance of the group has been in line with our expectations outlined at the time of the interim results announcement. Results for the quarter in US dollars have been positively affected by the stronger Colombian peso, South African rand and certain European currencies against the US dollar.

In Latin America, lager volumes grew by 4% in the quarter following high growth in the comparative period. Lager volumes were up 6.5% year to date. In Colombia, lager volumes have grown 2% in the quarter, reflecting difficult trading conditions and bad weather impacting ...More Info

Beer and quasi-beer shipments in Japan fell to a record low last year amid dwindling support from young generations, Jiji Press reported January 17.

Shipments decreased 0.3 pct from the previous year to 496.08 million cases, declining for the third consecutive year and hitting the lowest level since the industry started compiling data in 1992. The previous low was marked only in 2006.

Each case contains the equivalent of 20 633-milliliter bottles.

The slump also reflected stricter crackdowns on drunk driving and a decrease of the overall drinking population amid a slipping birthrate and an aging of society, industry officials said.

Asahi Breweries Ltd. was the nation's top brewer for the seventh straight year with a 37.94 pct market share, beating Kirin Brewery Co. by a slim margin of 0.19 percentage point.

Among other brewers, Suntory Ltd. expanded its share to a record 10.97 pct thanks to brisk sales of the Premium Malt's brand, coming only 1.5 points behind No. 3 player Sapporo Breweries Ltd.

By category, beer shipments fell 0.9 pct to 274,044,000 cases, declining for the 11th consecutive year, as shipments for bars and restaurants slumped due to tighter controls over drunk driving.

Shipments of "happoshu" low-malt beer-like alcoholic drinks fell 2.5 pct to 121,667,000 ...More Info

ZAO Obolon produced 10.91 mil hl of beer in 2007, 16.5% more than in the previous year, the company said in a press release, January 15.

In 2007 the company’s market share in Ukraine constituted 30.1%. The beer exports grew almost 8%. Export share was of 72.7%.

London-based Karan Bilimoria's Cobra Beer said it has acquired a controlling stake of 76 percent in Bihar-based brewery Iceberg Industries, marking its first strategic acquisition in the country, India PRWire reported January 18.

Cobra purchased the 76 percent stake for an undisclosed amount from the Katyal family-owned brewery, with Amit Katyal retaining a 24 percent share. The move is part of Cobra's ambitious global development strategy.

'The purchase of Iceberg will help us take Cobra to a whole new level in India, allowing us to increase and manage our capacity and to really focus our efforts on the Indian market,' said Bilimoria.

'Since we began brewing Cobra in India for the Indian market back in 2005, we've made phenomenal progress,' said the soft-spoken Bilimoria, who is a member of the British House of Lords and a first-generation entrepreneur.

Iceberg currently has a manufacturing capacity of three million cases of beer per year, which Cobra intends to increase to seven million cases per year in a few years, to cater for its markets in north and east India.

Iceberg also has its own strong beer brand, Iceberg 9000, which is available in selected markets around Bihar region. Cobra intends to continue marketing this beer but have ...More Info

Scottish & Newcastle plc ("S&N" or the "Company") and Carlsberg A/S ("Carlsberg") and Heineken N.V. ("Heineken") (together the "Consortium"), confirm that they have entered into discussions in relation to a possible recommended offer for S&N at 800 pence per share, according to S&N’s press release, January 17.

The Consortium's proposal is subject to certain pre-conditions, including satisfactory completion of limited due diligence. The parties have approached the Panel to request a short extension to the Put up or Shut up deadline to 12 noon on 24 January 2008, to enable the Consortium to complete its due diligence. The potential additional 20 pence per share of the proposed increased offer price will be funded by Carlsberg. Shareholders should be aware that there can be no certainty that a formal offer will be made. A further announcement will be made as appropriate.

SABMiller, the world's third-largest brewer, said its Moscow office had been searched by government officials investigating a tax case, according to Bloomberg, January 18.

"We confirm the fact of inspection held by the Interior Ministry officials," Nadezhda Khotina, corporate affairs manager at SABMiller in Russia, said Thursday by telephone. "The company believes this inspection is linked to the tax case on royalties which is currently under court proceedings.''

Khotina declined to elaborate on the tax case.

Russian officials say SABMiller missed paying duty of 665 million rubles ($27 million) because taxable profit was reduced by royalty payments to producers of licensed brands, Kommersant reported Thursday, without citing anyone. Officials argue that the royalties should have been included in profit, the report said.

SABMiller, Russia's fourth-largest beer producer, is building a second brewery in the country to increase beer output by 50 percent as demand is stronger than in domestic markets, James Wilson, chief of operations in Russia, said in June.

Four-fifths of the company's European profit comes from Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.

The CWB will export 17 million tonnes of wheat, durum and barley this crop year, focusing its marketing strategy to take full advantage of current record-high prices for grain in the international marketplace, according to CWB’s press release, January 16.

The CWB projects farmers in Saskatchewan will receive about $223 per tonne for malting barley, an increase of 59 per cent from 2006-07. An updated projection will be released on January 24.

The CWB’s 2007-08 export target includes three million tonnes of barley. Fifty-one per cent of the program was exported by December 31, 2007, with 90 per cent targeted for export by the end of May 2008. “Given this situation, we will need to have consistent delivery through the winter months and into spring,” Weisensel says.

Overall, the 2007 harvest – while above average – was lower quality than 2006, Weisensel says. A hot, dry July and cool, wet harvest conditions in much of the Prairies reduced yields in some areas and affected quality in others. The crop year began on August 1, 2007 with the tightest stocks in 25 years. Tight global supply drove prices to record levels, with demand continuing to support high prices.

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB ...More Info

According to the press-service of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC), Ukraine is able to export no less than 1.7 mln tonnes of barley, AgriMarket reported January 9.

According to the General Manager of UAC Sergey Stoyanov, the analysis of grain balance of 2007 crop proves that Ukraine is capable to export without any risks for food safety of the country no less than 5 mln tonnes of grain.

S. Stoyanov believes that it is necessary to add to already fixed 400.000 tonnes of barley no less than 1.3 mln tonnes of barley.

Reference: the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation consolidates more than 40 major professional associations, enterprises and consulting structures of agro-industrial complex, insurance, bank sector, and also spheres of the resource providing of the agrarian production. The regional centers of the Confederation are created and effectively work in the majority areas of Ukraine. UAC represents interests of more than 30.000 market participants.

L. Hřivna - Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
In small-plot field trials conducted in 2000–2002 we studied the effect of fungicides on the yield and selected technological parameters of grain of malt barley and on malt. For the treatment we used Cerelux (active ingredients: fenpropimorph, flusilazole), Amistar (azoxystrobin) and Caramba (metconazole) applied in two stages of stand development (DC 47 and 55). Compared to the untreated control plants the yield grains ranged between 6.9 and 16.5% after the application of fungicides. The application of fungicides increased the proportion of full grains and had a favourable effect on the chemical composition of grain. After the treatment with azoxystrobin the content of N-substances decreased from 11.43 to 11.07% as compared to the controls. The highest starch content of grain was observed after the application of the active ingredient metconazole; the average content ranged between 64.44 and 64.62%. Compared to the controls the highest relative yield of malt starch (124.2–125.2%) was achieved after the application of azoxystrobin or a combination of azoxystrobin and metconazole in the DC 47 stage. The highest average attainable degree of fermentation was 78.57% and was discovered in the untreated control. Keywords: malt barley; malt; fungicide; yields; grain quality
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