Mexico's Femsa, Latin America's largest bottler and brewer, posted a 13.1 percent rise in first-quarter net profit as sales increased in all its business units, Reuters reported April 28.

Femsa, brewer of Tecate, Sol and Dos Equis beers, said January-to-March net profit was 1.292 billion pesos ($121 million).

Revenue increased 8.4 percent to 36.181 billion pesos, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 15.6 percent to 6.136 billion pesos.

Beer sales by volume grew 7.1 percent in Mexico and 2.9 percent in Brazil, with exports up 12.6 percent on increased buying of Dos Equis and Tecate in the United States and Sol in other markets, Femsa said.

The company said it had double-digit growth in the U.S. market, despite a generalized slowdown in imported beer sales there, with U.S. sales accounting for two-thirds of the higher export volume.

"We began 2008 with strong first-quarter results and the conviction that, once again, we will successfully face what appears to be another year of big challenges," Chief Executive Jose Antonio Fernandez said in a statement.

Beer sales in the United States account for 8.4 percent of the unit's revenue, while more than two-thirds of sales come from Mexico and 15.1 percent from Brazil.

Femsa's chief financial officer, ...More Info

Beijing Yanjing Brewery, one of the largest beer groups in the country, announced that its net profits went up 31.42% to RMB 20.9 million in the first quarter, China Knowledge reported April 29.

The company realized a beer sales volume of 740 thousand kiloliters in the first quarter, up 9% from the same period of 2007. Its sales income rose 16.42 % to RMB 1.71 billion. Its total assets amounted to RMB 11.5 billion, up 5.6% over the previous year. Basic earnings per share increased 100% to RMB 0.02, according to its quarterly report.

Yanjing Brewery also revealed that despite the surging raw material prices, the company further promoted its brand construction, marketing and cost management in the first quarter, resulting in efficient energy consumption and cost saving.

Carlsberg will acquire S&N's 50% of the BBH joint venture in the CIS, Brasseries Kronenbourg in France, Mythos in Greece and S&N's investments in Vietnam and China, according to S&N’s press release, April 29.

Heineken will acquire S&N UK, Central de Cervejas in Portugal, Hartwall in Finland, Alken Maes in Belgium, the majority of S&N's export markets and the company's investment in United Breweries in India.

The website will remain active for an interim period as an archive of S&N's history but in future to find out what is happening in the S&N businesses please visit the Heineken and Carlsberg sites or go to the local business websites.

InBev SA, the brewer of Stella Artois and Beck's, said it was hiking beer prices as costs for raw ingredients such as malt, barley and aluminum surge, The Associated Press reported April 29.

InBev chief executive Carlos Brito said the beer industry was now facing a different environment "that pressures everybody" as inflation bites and basic costs continue to go up.

"You see the possibilities to pass some of the cost to prices," he told reporters after an annual shareholders' meeting. "If your brands are strong enough, you should take that opportunity."

He said the company had already implemented some price rises but refused to give details on future pricing plans. The company would provide more information on the regions and brands where it believes it can hike prices when it reports first quarter results on May 8.

InBev promised in February that it would not hike prices more than inflation — which it then forecast at some 4 percent for the regions where it operates.

He also warned again that the company will report lower growth for the first and second quarters of 2008 when compared with strong results for the same period last year.

Brito earlier told shareholders that price rises in Brazil had ...More Info

India’s beer consumption extended robust growth for the third year in a row with 14.5% volume jump in FY08, TNN reported April 28.According to industry estimates, beer shipments touched 158 million cases (of 7.8 litre each) in 2007-08, up from 137 million in the previous year.

Market leader UB’s volume is estimated to have been a little over 75 million cases, growing at around 13% from FY07, giving it about 48% share of the market. Both UB and its main rival SABMiller, with around 36% share, appears to have grown in sync with the industry growth.

The volume spurt was mainly led by the key guzzlers down south, with the largest market Andhra Pradesh vaulting 15.4%, Tamil Nadu 11.6% and Karnataka 24%. Another big market, Maharashtra, however, witnessed sedate growth of 5-6%, with Mumbai city recording a minor degrowth, industry sources said.

The domestic beer volume has been on a growth curve, with changing social mores and higher disposable incomes making beer a lifestyle drink.

Among the northern markets, Rajasthan saw volume jump by 26% while Haryana appears to have grown at around 30%. However, it is believed that Delhi remained sober with 3% rise in volume depletion.

In fact, Uttar Pradesh, which saw significant ...More Info

Dutch brewer Heineken NV can acquire Czech beer group Drinks Union, the Czech Antimonopoly Office (UOHS) ruled, according to Reuters, April 28.

Drinks Union is the third largest brewer in the Czech Republic behind SABMiller's Plzensky Prazdroj and InBev's Pivovary Staropramen.

Heineken said last month the deal will give it a market share of 12 percent in the Czech Republic and total domestic volume of more than 1.9 million hectolitres.

The transaction cost, which will be funded from existing credit facilities, has not been disclosed.

"The office came to the conclusion that the merger will not result into a substantial breach of competition given a relatively low market share of both competitors and the existence of significant competitors," UOHS said in a statement.

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad has posted a 151.2 per cent jump in first quarter pre-tax profit, pushed by brisk domestic sales, particularly in the Chinese New Year festive period, Asia Pulse reported April 29.

Profit for the three months ended 31 March 2008 climbed to RM35.491 million (US$11.1 million) from RM14.126 million for the previous corresponding period.

Revenue rose 14.4 per cent to RM289.433 million from RM252.990 million previously, the brewer said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia on April 25.

Earnings per share surged to 8.67 sen from 3.48 sen a year earlier.

"The better performance was mainly due to higher domestic sales particularly during the Chinese New Year festive period," Carlsberg said.

"Gross margins were higher mainly due to more favourable product mix and better cost efficiencies."

The group expects 2008 to be a satisfactory year.

It said the strong sales and profit growth in the first quarter of 2008 was an encouraging start to the year.

Carlsberg however expects escalating prices for raw and packaging materials to exert downward pressure on the group's profit margin.

It hopes to cushion the impact of rising costs through improved price/ mix as well as operational cost effectiveness.

"Sustainable growth for the rest of the year is dependent on no further ...More Info

Canada’s seeded area with barley is expected to decrease by 14%, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, April 25. Production is forecast to decrease by only 5%. Total supply is expected to fall by 6% due to lower carry-in stocks. Total domestic use is forecast to fall by 2%, to the lowest level since 2002-03, due to a forecasted drop in feed, waste and dockage.

Feed barley exports are forecast to fall due to increased competition from Australia and the EU. Carry-out stocks are forecast to decline and set a modern day record low.

The off-Board price of feed barley is forecast to increase slightly compared to 2007-08.

The CWB April PRO for Feed Barley Pool A is C$235/t vs. C$269/t for 2007/08 and the PRO for Special Select two-row designated barley is C$354/t vs. C$290/t for 2007-08.

Barley production has been relatively stable for the past few years. Feed use has decreased significantly from previous years as livestock farmers shifted to corn for livestock feed, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, April 25. Food use has declined from the record 4.2 Mt consumed in 2005-2006, due to high malting barley prices.

Brewers have developed more cost effective ways of producing beer using lower cost inputs such as corn and rice. Barley imports, consisting mostly of two-row malting varieties from Canada and Australia, are forecast at 1.2 Mt in 2007-2008, up slightly from 2006-2007, but down significantly from the record 2.2 Mt in 2005-2006. Carry-out stocks are virtually unchanged at 0.2 Mt.

With very few exceptions the weather allowed completion of a good extended area of malting barley in Denmark, according to H. Abildstrom & Co ApS, April 28.

Sweden: South, 85% drilled, Mid, 75% Lake Maelaren area 60 %

Finland: Presently commenced sowing sugar beets and spring wheat, as from end of this week they will go on the (malting) barley – weather seems to have opened a nice window till then and field conditions are improving daily. The timing is favourable as Finnish drilling can be as late as 15 May under awkward situations.

Seed suppliers will soon be able to make first assessment of areas. We already know that some of the set-aside land in Denmark has been re-used for malting barley and rapeseed but still too early to ascertain the extent of these hectares. We are still adamant on 370.000 ha spring barley +/- 5.000 ha.

Swedish and Finnish spring barley areas, still too early to change prognoses from February.

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Deadly boring since weeks. With the industry out of sight on old, new and very new crop we cannot blame maltsters for leaning back and watch the prices drifting down weekly. France and to a certain extent UK are leading ...More Info

Long, N.R.; Logue, S. J.; Jefferies, S.P.; and Barr, A.R. Department of Plant Science, Waite Campus, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia.

Introduction
Conditions that favour a crop reaching its full yield potential are moderate temperatures during grain filling, high rainfall, good crop nutrition, disease and weed control, early sowing and an ideal finish to the season. For malting barley, these conditions will also impact on malting quality. Previous work (Long et al., 1997) has highlighted correlations between grain yield and malting quality variables, and environmental and agronomic factors. A feature of marked significance of many Australian soils is that they have an inherently low fertility status (Williams and Raupach, 1983). Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) management have long been recognised as important to agricultural production, and manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies are of concern in some areas. Both macro- and micro-nutrients are essential for plant metabolism, growth and development. They are involved in enzyme activation (Mn, Zn), energy transfer reactions (P, N), the electron transport chain (Mn) and they are important constituents of proteins (N). This makes nutrition management an imperative component of malting barley production in terms of yield potential and achieving malting grade. This paper discusses Mn, P and N experiments conducted between 1996 and 1998 to examine the effects of particular nutrients on grain yield, screenings, grain protein and malting quality.
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