Anheuser-Busch Cos's board plans to meet face-to-face tomorrow for the first time since rival brewer InBev formally made its $46bn bid to buy the company, The Financial Times posted on June 19, citing people close to the situation.

The directors will weigh a variety of options for Anheuser, the 150-year-old brewer of Budweiser beer. But in a sign that Anheuser may not unequivocally reject InBev's advances, insiders say its advisers will focus the board's attention on the valuation of InBev's bid. At $65 per Anheuser share, they may argue that the bid is too low for a brand that InBev has called "iconic".

The offer, which equates to roughly 12 times Anheuser's 2007 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, represents a 35 per cent premium to Anheuser's average share price over the month before the bid announcement. Carlos Brito, InBev's chief executive, said yesterday that it had offered a "full price".

Sales of other well-known brands including Wrigley and Gillette have earned richer valuations, however, and Anheuser may point to those examples in its response to InBev.

Anheuser's shares closed yesterday at $61.90, as investors attempted to handicap the likelihood of a deal. The bid by the Belgian brewer for Anheuser has all ...More Info

The brewing force, Carlsberg Group, is mulling plans to build a brand new brewery in Ukraine, a move which will strengthen its already strong position in a country where per capita beer consumption has doubled in five years, Kyiv Post communicated on June 18.

Analysts estimate that the new brewery, the first brand new beer­making facility built in Ukraine since Soviet days, could cost $10 million. This year, the Carlsberg group consolidated 100 percent ownership over Baltic Beverage Holdings, which in prior years acquired three breweries in Ukraine.

In acquiring BBH, Carlsberg gained a leading position in Ukraine through the Slavutych breweries in Kyiv and Zaporizhia, and the Lvivske brewery in Lviv.

Olena Markova, a BBH spokesperson in Ukraine was tight­lipped, neither confirming nor denying plans to build a new brewery.

But on June 11, Viktor Kovalenko, head of the main administration of foreign economic relations and European integration at Kharkiv Oblast State Administration, told journalists that Carlsberg representatives conducted negotiations on a site for the brewery with Arsen Avakov, head of Kharkiv Oblast State Administration. Carlsberg was offered six land plots to choose from, Kovalenko added.

Oleksandr Sokolov, head of the analytical department of Financial­Analytical Group Pro­Consulting, said construction of the new brewery ...More Info

Mexico's No. 1 brewer, Modelo, run by a family not known for risk taking, is expected to emerge from InBev's $46.3 billion takeover battle for Anheuser-Busch with only one major change -- a new partner, Reuters communicated on June 18th.

Modelo, already 50 percent owned by Anheuser, is expected to block any attempt by the brewer of Budweiser to buy full control as a defensive move. Neither does it want to take on billions of dollars of debt to buy back its stake in the St. Louis-based giant.

Analysts say the most likely outcome is that Modelo, which makes Corona beer, will embrace InBev's bid for Anheuser and hope the Belgian brewer proves to be a more dynamic and innovative partner than the biggest U.S. brewer.

"At the end of the day, if InBev buys Anheuser, Modelo is going to play safe. OK, now I don't have Anheuser causing me grief. I have InBev and everything remains the same," said Ixe brokerage analyst Marco Reyes.

Modelo CEO Carlos Fernandez told Reuters two weeks ago -- before InBev launched its $65 a share bid for Anheuser -- that he expected his company, which has no debt and more than $1 billion in cash, to remain ...More Info

Dutch brewing giant Heineken has indicated it will not leave the Asian partner, Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), in the lurch, while partnering United Breweries (UB) in India, The India Times posted on June 2008..

Heineken, which is taking 37.5% stake in UB after the worldwide acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle, appears to be preparing ground for APB’s continued presence in the domestic market, which is hotly contested by India’s largest brewer.

On Tuesday night, in London, UB chairman Vijay Mallya told ET : “Heineken is my shareholder. And I will talk to Heineken only.” Mr Mallya and Heineken CEO Jean Francois van Boxmeer are expected to meet in Paris on coming Monday for crucial talks to work out a business relationship, but APB operations in India, with its flagship Tiger beer, remains a stumbling block.

The board of APB —in which Heineken holds 42% and Fraser & Neave 38% stake—is believed to have taken a strong stance against quitting India’s rapidly expanding beer market. Sources said Heineken has put forward at least two options aimed at “meaningfully” covering the interests of all the three parties . One, APB will continue as an entity with its market operations tied to ...More Info

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. said on June 19th it will list the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacture of each can on the labels of its flagship beer product, Japan’s Corporate News communicated.

Starting in March next year, the major Japanese brewer will indicate how much CO2 is emitted from the time ingredients are planted to the time the can is disposed of on "Kuro Label" 350-mililiter cans.

According to the company, no other beer maker in the world is announcing its product's carbon footprint in such a way, and the company sees it as a measure against global warming.

Sapporo Breweries can accurately figure out the amount of CO2 emissions because it fully controls the beer-making process, including barley and hop production, which are entirely undertaken by contracted farmers, company officials said.

The move by Sapporo Breweries, part of Sapporo Holdings Ltd., is in line with the possible nationwide implementation of carbon footprints in Japan.

The Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry launched a task force this month made up of academics, food and food package makers and retailers to establish rules on CO2 emission labeling by March next year.

Beer consumption in France dropped by 8.2% for the first quarter 2008, following the tendency already felt in 2007, according to the figures published on June 19 by the professional organisation of French Brewers.

This decrease is “probably” due to the interdiction of smoking in public places, Gérard Laloi, the president of French Brewers commented. The law came into force since January 2nd this year.

Beer consumption of about 30 litres per capita every year in France is one the lowest in Europe. So, a French drinks four times less beer then a German.

The US group ADM and the French group Malteurop, recently held discussions on ADM’s possible sale of its subsidiary ADM Malting to the Malteurop group, a subsidiary of the holding SICLAE of which Champagne Céréales Group is the main shareholder.

The Malteurop Group is the third-largest world malting company and is one of the leading operators on today’s malt market, with an annual production capacity exceeding 1,200,000 metric tons, according to company's official site. The Group is present in seven European countries and in Asia at fifteen industrial sites. With 450 employees, the Group’s annual business volume is 330 million euros.

Leading Australian agribusiness ABB Grain has announced that production at its Joe White Maltings Perth malt house has been temporarily suspended following a gas pipeline rupture which has led to supply disruptions throughout Western Australia, Flex News communicated on June 18.

Joe White Maltings will operate its seven other malt plants in Australia at full capacity and draw upon existing stocks in order to meet customer requirements. The Perth facility is the largest malthouse in the southern hemisphere.

Although ABB was unable to give a date for the resumption of operations or to estimate the financial consequences the interruption would have for the company, it expected no material impact after considering insurance recoveries.

Joe White Maltings, ABB Grain’s malting division, is one of the world’s largest producers of malt with the capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes per annum.

With the introduction of the minimum protein level for delivery of malting barley, significant tonnages of Baudin and Gairdner, with grain protein less than 9.5 per cent, have been downgraded to feed, directly affecting grower profit, Fairfax Media, posted on June 19.

Due to world demand for malt barley increasing at 6 to 9 % every year, the future looks bright for growers who can achieve barley protein levels within the malt barley receival specification.

As there can be a large difference between malt and feed grade prices, growers and consultants are seeking the most efficient way to achieve grain protein levels of 10 to 11 % to meet market specifications.

To help, Grains Research and Development Corporation supported Department of Agriculture and Food WA researchers looked at managing nitrogen inputs in malting barley and assessed decision support tools for nitrogen application.

DAFWA Albany researcher Jeremy Lemon said growers should use caution when interpreting any study. “It is not possible to make universal recommendations, because barley response to nitrogen is highly site and season specific and it can be difficult to unequivocally explain trial outcomes,” he said. “If a barley grower achieves poor results, they need to do something different and find a system ...More Info

Talks have wrapped up between the Canadian government and the government of Colombia on a free trade agreement. Colombia currently applies an average tariff of 16.6 percent to Canadian agricultural goods. David Boyes, market analyst with the Canadian Wheat Board, says this deal is significant for prairie producers.

Over 400 thousand tonnes of wheat and 80 thousand tonnes of malting barley was shipped to Columbia in 2007.

The agreement calls for an immediate end to tariffs on wheat, barley, peas and lentils with improved access for beef and beans.

Tariffs will be phased out on pork and oilseeds.

Maryam Yaldagard Seyed Ali Mortazavi and Farideh Tabatabaie

Abstract
J. Inst. Brew. 114(1), 14-21, 2008 In this study the effects of different intensities and exposure time of ultrasound on barley seed have been investigated to determine the optimal conditions for accelerating germination. For optimization, the Taguchi approach was used. The germination rates and/or yield of the treated sample seed were compared with those of the untreated seed germinated under normal conditions. The seeds were treated with ultrasonic energy (input power 20- 90% of 460W) and were exposed to three time periods ranging from 5 to 15 min. It was found that germination of the treated barley seed was increased about 1.042–1.065 times compared with that of the untreated seed. The ultrasonic treatment proved to be efficient in reducing the germination period by 30-45%. It was concluded that priming of seeds with ultrasound was effective in improving water uptake and germination. The data presented in this paper suggest that the increase in final germination percentage, together with the reduced germination period in treated seeds, may be due to the action of ultrasound and that it led to an improved hydration process with concurrent shell fragmentation. Key words: Barley seed, enhancing germination, optimization, Taguchi technique, ultrasonic priming technique. ... Load full article, 8 pages, 353 Kb, PDF file