Molson Coors Brewing Co. plans to eliminate up to 390 jobs in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world and outsource their duties to Hewlett-Packard Co, Canadian Press reported March 13.

The Canadian-American beer maker says the cuts will be divided about evenly among the company's three operating divisions: Coors Brewing Co. in Golden, Colo., Coors Brewers Ltd. in England and Molson Inc. in Toronto.

The cuts will be in human resources, information technology and finance.

Molson Coors spokeswoman Kabira Hatland said Wednesday the cuts are part of an effort to save US$250 million over three years. She says about a third of the savings is expected from the cuts and the rest from efficiency improvements.

About 40 Molson Coors workers are expected to transfer to HP, one of the world's biggest computer services companies, and up to 350 others will be laid off.

Molson Coors says functions to be taken over by HP will be done in Canada, Costa Rica, India, Puerto Rico and Poland.

Heineken faces extra scrutiny from competition authorities in Ireland over its deal to buy Scottish & Newcastle, Drinks International reported March 12.

Ireland’s Competition Authority has asked the EU for permission to launch its own investigation into the Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) deal.

If granted, Heineken could face a prolonged period of limbo in the country, potentially extending beyond the EU’s April 4th deadline for a ruling, an European Commission spokesperson said.

The Dutch beer group agreed to take S&N's Irish business as part of a £7.8bn deal with Carlsberg to buy and carve up the UK brewer.

Heineken Ireland recently claimed a 22 per cent share of the Irish beer market, after sales rose four per cent last year to €346m.

Carlsberg, which is set to take S&N’s Kronenbourg business in France and operations in Greece, last week received clearance for its part of the takeover from the EU Competition Commission.

Officials said the deal “would not result in any significant change in France and Greece, as Carlsberg is currently not active in these markets”.

Sales of domestic beer remained stable in 2007, Beer-Union has recently reported. Member companies of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry sold a total of 426.3 million litres of beer, up 0.2 per cent on the previous year. Retail is still the largest distribution channel for beer, accounting for 78 per cent of sales.

The most significant change has been seen in beer containers. The transitional period for the elimination of taxes on cans drew to an end at the turn of the year and the industry prepared itself for this by stepping up sales of beer in cans. Sales of beer in Finland by cans rose from 22 per cent to 38 per cent. Draft sales by restaurants and bars remained virtually unchanged at 16 per cent, while the share accounted for by bottled beer declined to slightly under 46 per cent.

The share of all brewery beverage sales by cans rose from the previous year’s figure of 14 per cent to 23 per cent in 2007. Refillable plastic and glass bottles accounted for 63 per cent. Fourteen per cent of beverages were sold on draft at restaurants and bars.

Pubs have been closing at the rate of 27 a week - nearly four every day - over the past year, according to the latest figures released by the British Beer & Pub Association, media reported March 13. The current closure rate is seven times faster than in 2006 and 14 times faster than in 2005.

1,409 pubs closed during 2007. This is a sharp acceleration on previous years. Pub numbers were down 216 in 2006 - four a week - following a fall of 102 in 2005 – two a week.

Rob Hayward, Chief Executive of the BBPA, said: “Britain’s pubs are grappling with spiralling costs, sinking sales, fragile consumer confidence and the impact of the smoking ban. These figures show the stark reality of the pub trade today, in contrast to the hype surrounding the myth of “24-hour drinking” and extended pub opening hours. Pub closures at this rate are threatening an important hub of our social fabric and community history. What we need to stop the decline is support from Government and the general public."

Urban pubs have been hardest hit, with two per cent of all urban pubs closing in the last six months. Pubs without the room to ...More Info

The private equity owners of United Malt Holdings, one of the world's largest producers of malt for the brewing and distilling industries, are considering a A$500 million ($467 million) float of the business, Australian media reported, according to Reuters, March 13.

The Australian Financial Review, citing no sources, said Australian buyout firm CHAMP Private Equity and its U.S. affiliate Castle Harlan were believed to be assessing options for a possible exit to take advantage of malt prices that have risen on strong demand.

According to CHAMP's Web site, UMH has revenues in excess of $400 million and has 14 plants in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. It is a major supplier to beer makers such as Foster's Group, the newspaper said.

CHAMP and Castle Harlan bought the businesses that make up UMH in 2006 from U.S.-based ConAgra Foods Inc and South African consumer goods group Tiger Brands.

Japan’s malt imports have been declining due to lower beer sales. Consequently, import demand for Canadian malt has also been decreasing, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, March 7. This poses some challenges for Canadian maltsters as Japan accounts for a large portion of export malt sales.

Canadian malt exports to Japan have averaged around 160 kt over the last 5 years. For 2007-2008, exports to Japan are forecast at about 150 kt, similar to 2006-2007.

Crop 2007 has experienced a “free fall” from mid February till now by about 25-35 €/ton, slowly beginning to “look like” parity crop 2008, according to H. Abildstrøm & Co. ApS, March 13. Buyers absent while shipments still presenting some problems on protein and germination. They are covered “on paper” but still do not make any attempts to repurchase (at drifting prices). Crop 2008 is still to a certain degree directed by the developments in France and UK. Wheat traders have their CBT and Matif to watch, while the malting industry and its related clients have their Creill and Southampton plus developments on the southern part of the Globe. “Spilling over” from the wheat markets are still visible but less profound than last month.

Crop 2009 has had a period of “dormancy” but recently showing signs of waking up on the buying side. Availability also on this crop is linked to farmers` willingness to participate. So far price wise crop 2009 has positioned itself between 8 and 13 €/ton below parity periods 2008.

To make things rolling again will need completion of drilling in the major supply countries thereby leaving the whole crop in the hands of the weather. With extreme ...More Info

Malting barley market is still little developed, according to La Depeche, March 13. The prices for 2007 crop have decreased this week due a total lack of interest from the buyers. The views are aimed mostly at 2008 crop, with vendors and buyers observing attentively the development of spring barley.

Feed barley market was calmer this week after the buyers had assured covering stocks from an increasing market. The prices have increased both in ports and inside the country.

Cash prices for malting and feed barley were mixed since the last report, with prices for both classes up on some elevator boards and down on others, Farm & Ranch Guide reported March 13.

However, changes in either direction were rather minor as the barley markets stabilize while they wait for the results from the first planting intentions report that's due out the end of March.

Louis Arnold, president of the North Dakota Barley Council, feels there will a slight increase in barley acres as some of those who switched from raising barley a few years ago in favor of other crops, come back into the fold. The reason for this migration back to barley, according to Arnold, is due to two main factors - good price contracts being offered for the 2008 crop for both feed and malting barley, and lower input costs.

“I think our barley acreage is going to be up somewhat this year, not big time, but more acres than we had last year. And with the contracts as high as they are, there will quite a bit of that which will be contracted,” he said. “They are even offering feed barley contracts, and I can never remember that ...More Info

P. M. Tansing, S. J. Logue, S. Roumeliotis, R. Kaczmarek and A. R. Barr Adelaide University, Dept. of Plant Science, PMB1, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia


Introduction
In order to achieve malting grade, Australian barley must generally have a grain protein (GP) concentration of between 9.0 – 11.8 % (ABB Grain Ltd). For overseas markets, the trend is towards an even tighter GP range (10.0 – 11.5 % GP). Management of malting segregations can be difficult for bulk handling authorities, and therefore "active stack management" of grain that allows for the inclusion of a wider range of GP to achieve an ideal "average" GP is an attractive solution.
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