In 2007 Russia was ranked third by its beer production, for the first time leaving Germany behind, ITAR-TASS cited the report published by Kirin Holdings Co on August 8. The Japanese brewer has been registering world’s statistics since 1974.

On the whole, record 179.37 mln kilolitres of beer were brewed in the world over 2007, which is by 5.9% more than the 2006 index. Experts explain such drastic increase of global output by the riot economic growth of such nations as Brazil, India, China, and Russia, as well as by the rise of average world temperatures.

China remained the first by beer production volume for six years on end – 39.31 mln kilolitres, increasing its 2006 achievement by more than 13%. USA was ranked second with a small increase of 0.6% - 23.34 mln kilolitres.

In Russia, the rate of beer output grew by 16.1% and constituted 11.6 mln kilolitres.

Driven off to the fourth position, Germany brew 10.5 mln kilolitres of beer in 2007 – 2% less than in 2006.

Baltika Breweries, Russia's largest brewer, is investing heavily into niche beverages as it tries to grab a bigger slice of the ever-growing beer market, and other brewers are following suit, the Moscow Times reported on August 8.

"The beer industry is now trying to find niches in the market," said Daniil Briman, Baltika's vice president for corporate communications.

This is in sharp contrast to Soviet times, he said, when "we had two kinds of beer: piva nyet [there is no beer] and pivo yest [there is beer]."

The whirl of beer bottle shapes, colors, gimmicks and prices now weighing down shop shelves from St. Petersburg to Sakhalin belies the consolidated nature of the market and shows that this is no longer the case in Russia.

Today, besides the Baltika standards running from Zero to Nine, the firm also manufactures Baltika Lite and Baltika Cooler, as well as licensing and producing foreign beers such as Asahi, Tuborg, Carlsberg and Kronenbourg 1664. The company also produces regional Russian beers such as Yarpivo and Samara.

One of Baltika's main competitors, Sun InBev, whose best-known brand is perhaps Klinskoye, has a range of brands just as broad, encompassing everything from the Russian Sibirskaya Korona and Tolstyak to licensed brands ...More Info

InBev NV's core profit growth is seen slowing year-on-year in the second quarter amid rising costs and tough comparisons with 2007, as investors focus on the impact of the recent Anheuser-Busch takeover, Reuters posted on August 11.

Analysts forecast that the Belgium-based brewer will report a 0.8 percent rise in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) to 1.24 billion euros from 1.23 billion.

With disappointing first-quarter results reported in May, the company acknowledged that 2008 was more challenging than the previous three years.

First-quarter EBITDA rose a modest 0.7 percent to 982 million in the first quarter of 2008, falling short of analysts' estimates.

Chief Executive Carlos Brito nevertheless expects EBITDA margins will rise in the second-half, fuelled by further cost cutting.

InBev, whose key international brands are Stella Artois, Beck's and Brahma, has had to cope with higher input costs, such as for barley.

Last year, it was overtaken by SABMiller Plc as the world's largest brewer by volume and it faces tough competition from rivals Heineken NV and Carlsberg A/S Carb.CO after they divided up Scottish & Newcastle in a 7.8 billion pound ($15.5 billion) takeover.

Investors will be looking out for news surrounding Inbev's $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, which is ...More Info

On the extraordinary general meeting held on 11th of August 2008, the shareholders of Saku Õlletehase AS approved the takeover by Carlsberg Estonia Holding OÜ of the shares of Saku Õlletehase Aktsiaselts held by the remaining shareholders, Carlsberg’s official site reported.

It was decided that the takeover will take place on the following terms:

• the fair compensation payable to the Minority Shareholders shall be EEK 194.06 (i.e. EUR 12.40) per each share of Saku Õlletehase Aktsiaselts that is subject to the takeover;

• the compensation in the amount set out in the previous section above has been determined on the assumption that the shares subject to takeover are not encumbered by pledge or other rights of third parties;

• the transfer of shares subject to takeover from the Minority Shareholders to Carlsberg Estonia Holding OÜ and the payment of compensation to Minority Shareholders shall be arranged by the registrar of the Estonian Central Register of Securities (“ECRS”) on the basis of the application of the Management Board of Saku Õlletehase Aktsiaselts. This application shall be submitted by the Management Board to the ECRS after the passage of one month as of the adoption of this resolution. The ...More Info

Japan's Sapporo Holdings Ltd. is considering raising its beer production capacity in North America, Jiji Press cited sources familiar with the matter on August 8.

The company plans to increase its annual capacity by about 50,000-60,000 kiloliters to help achieve its target of boosting its North America sales by 40 pct from present levels to 15 million cases by 2012.

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

The company believes that despite the slowing U.S. economy, premium beer demand among upper middle-class consumers is expected to grow.

Sapporo is expected to expand the capacity of a plant in Ontario, Canada. Other options include construction of a new plant in the United States and mergers and acquisitions, it is reported.

The company said it will make a final decision as early as the beginning of next year.

Sapporo's North American sales rose 6 pct to 10.63 million cases last year, backed by the popularity of Japanese food.

Higher taxes on alcoholic beverages earlier this year have led to inflation growth in Finland, the official site of the Union of Russian Brewers reported on August 8.

Inflation is at the moment the main problem for Finland and the main obstacle for competition. The nation’s Ministry of Finance suggested general reduction of the VAT rate on food and beverages(from 17% to 12%), which is a good decision to control inflation. However, the reduction does not affect all prices for food and beverages, since the VAT on alcoholic beverages is 22%. With growing costs of energy, raw materials, and labour, prices for beer, cider, and cocktails still tend to increase. In addition to suggested VAT changes, the government should refrain from raising taxes to control inflation in the country.

With the 10% increase of the excise duty on low-alcohol beverages in force since the beginning of 2008, the tax on beer in Finland grew to be the highest in the European Union, as in the United Kingdom.

Besides, new restrictions on advertising introduced in correspondence to the Law about alcohol cut down price competition, which has also furthered the increase of prices.

It was reported that Estonian companies providing passenger traffic between Helsinki and ...More Info

Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. is considering setting up new operating models in markets out of China in a bid to cut costs and strengthen competitiveness, SinoCast informed on August 11.

China’s second beer maker considers building up breweries in partnership with overseas companies and is looking for some brewers to produce products under the brand of Tsingtao, said Jin Zhiguo, chairman for the Qingdao company.

The company’s board of directors approved setting up a brewery in Thailand. If the plan makes a success, this model will be replicated in other markets including the US, added Mr. Jin.

The Qingdao beer maker, which is seeing increasing sales and customers in the domestic market, still takes a thin share in the international beer market. Tsingtao Brewery is able to produce 5.05 million kiloliters of beer a year but only exports 1% of them.

Ukrainian brewing company Obolon manufactured 126 mln litres of beer in July 2008, High Way reported on August 11. Since the beginning of the year, the company produced 724 mln litres of beer thus increasing its output by 8.7% in comparison with the corresponding period in 2007.

In July, Obolon’s share in beer production amounted to 33.2%.

The brewer’s share on the domestic market in July was 28.4%.

Obolon’s export grew by 11.3% last month, which makes 75.6% of Ukraine’s total beer export.

Over the seven month of 2008, the share of Obolon in total output constituted 35.5%.

As of January – June 2008, the company’s share on domestic market is 30.4%.

The results of the seven month of 2008 show that the company’s export increased by 14.1% and constituted 76.1% of the total export of Ukrainian beer.

Belarusian malthouse Belsolod, the country’s only producer of malt, increased its output 2.9 times to 48.948 thousand tonnes in January – July 2008, Prime-Tass cited the enterprise’s administration on August 11.

In money terms, Belsolod increased its production 2.9 times as well to BYR65.945 bln (USD1 = BYR2.114 as of August 1).

Export shipments grew 6 times to 32.8 thousand tonnes. In January – July, the malthouse exported its production to Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Moldova.

Public corporation Belsolod was established in 1996. Its annual output capacity is 65 thousand tonnes.

The Canadian Wheat Board issued a mid-month malting barley Pool Return Outlook (PRO) for the 2008 – 2009 crop year. Malting barley values are down C$15 per tonne from the July 24, 2008, informed the board’s official site on August 7.

Designated barley Significant price volatility continues to characterize the international malting barley market as harvest progresses in the northern hemisphere. The price structure for malting barley is very sensitive to harvest conditions. Although there still is a long way to go before the 2008 harvest is completed, a large and generally good quality European barley harvest that is underway has weakened prices. This is affecting the price outlook for new sales of western Canadian malting barley.

European values have dropped by close to C$60 per tonne over the past two weeks. Although recent rains on the spring barley harvest in Europe caused some concerns about quality, the harvest has resumed and damage is not as extensive as in the previous two years. Rains during the past two weeks in Australia have helped stabilize the condition of the barley crop, especially in Western Australia.

General barley harvesting is just beginning in the United States and there are some problems with their six row crop ...More Info

A row is brewing between farmers and suppliers of malt over the price, Independent communicated on August 8. Farmers are claiming there is a worldwide shortage of the malting barley which is the key to the brewing process.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says there is currently no shortage of the crop in Ireland, but if producers are not paid enough they may stop growing it.

However, a spokesman for one of the suppliers of the key ingredient -- Greencore Malt -- blamed lower prices paid to farmers on a worldwide "glut" of malting barley.

Growers are now being offered a price below what they were paid in the mid-80s, the IFA president Padraig Walshe said at a conference during Dublin Horse Show week at the RDS.

As Diageo, the brewers of Guinness, this week confirmed they are considering a price increase for a pint of the black stuff as well as for their beers, growers were being asked to take 20pc less for their barley, say farmers.

A spokesman for Greencore Malt, which supplies Diageo, said grain prices had in general "fallen dramatically" in the past few months on the continent and elsewhere.

"We have no choice but to reflect the prices," he said, ...More Info

Czech hop growers expect a better harvest this year after the previous two weaker years, Bohumil Pazler, chairman of the Czech Hop Growers Association, was quoted as saying by ČTK on August 8.

Last year's hop harvest amounted to 5,630 tonnes, and this year around 5.950 tonnes of hops may be harvested, he said.

Hops are grown on 5.345 ha this year. Growers expect a per ha yield of 1.08 to 1.1 tonnes on average, against last year's 1.04 tonnes.

Hop prices are expected to grow by 15 to 20 percent year-on-year. Farmers want a minimum of Kc180.000 to Kc200.000 a tonne to cover their input costs and eliminate the strong crown effects.

Around 80 percent of the hop harvest is exported.

The hop fields rank the Czech Republic third after Germany and the USA. Hops were grown on 51.000 ha in the world last year.

Kazumaru Iijima, Koji Suzuki, Shizuka Asano, Hidetoshi Kuriyama and Yasushi Kitagawa

Abstract

J. Inst. Brew. 113(1), 96–101, 2007 Four beer-spoilage strains, LA20, LA21, LA22 and LA23, were isolated from brewery environments. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, LA20 was identified as Pediococcus inopinatus and the remaining three were identified as Lactobacillus backi. The homologs of horA and horC, the hop resistance genes originally identified in L. brevis ABBC45, were detected simultaneously in LA22 and LA23, while only a horA homolog and a horC homolog were found in LA20 and LA21 respectively. The 5.6 kb DNA regions containing the horA homolog in LA20 and LA22 were almost 99% identical with the corresponding region of ABBC45. Similarly the 8.2 kb regions containing the horC homolog in LA21 and LA22 were more than 99% identical with that of ABBC45. Interestingly the horA-containing 5.6 kb regions in LA20 and LA22 were found to be completely identical despite the distinct genus status. Coupled with the fact that LA20 and LA22 were isolated from the same sampling site, these results, taken collectively, reinforce our hypothesis that horA and horC genes were acquired by beer-spoilage species through horizontal gene transfer and confirm the usefulness of horA and horC as genetic markers for the species-independent determination of beer-spoilage ability in lactic acid bacteria. Key words: Beer-spoilage ability, hop resistance gene, horA, horC, horizontal gene transfer, Lactobacillus backi, Pediococcus inopinatus Load full article, 6 pages, 145 Kb, PDF file