United Breweries, India’s largest brewing company and a part of the UB Group, has been in the thick of the action with its impending strategic pact with Heineken, one of the world’s best-known beer brands. Various comments from the management of the UB Group have also indicated that United Breweries may be interested in acquiring the UK-operations of Cobra Beer, an Indian-cuisine focused beer that has strong presence in Britain, the Business Standard posted on December, 29.

While these negotiations are going on at majority shareholders level, the company is fine-tuning a strategy to stay ahead in the Indian market, its Managing Director Kalyan Ganguly said in an interview.

The CEO says he does not see any signs of a slowdown in the nation’s beer industry. “There have been some adverse developments like smoking ban in pubs and bars, resulting in them losing business, but I do not have reasons to complain. My personal take on the downturn in the economy is that this may not be a pan-India phenomenon. For example, if there is some impact on the Bangalore and Hyderabad markets — where young people employed in service sector are forced to take pay cuts — the same may not ...More Info

Japanese beer maker Asahi Breweries Ltd denied a newspaper report that it was considering a partnership with Foster's Group to enter the Australian alcoholic drinks sector, Reuters communicated on December, 29.

The Age newspaper, reporting on the possibility, said Asahi was likely to wait until Foster's, which already distributes Asahi beer, completes a review of its operations.

The review, expected to be finalised in February, may recommend a demerger of the wine and beer businesses, it said.

If the beer business was spun off, Asahi is believed to be considering a partnership beyond the distribution contract, the article said, without giving a source.

"There is no truth to what has been reported," Asahi Breweries spokesman Takayuki Tanaka said.

On December, 26, shares in Tokyo trading were led by the reports that Asahi Breweries is likely to post a pre-tax profit of 98 billion yen ($1.09 billion) for fiscal 2008, more than the firm's projection of 95 billion yen, led by lower sales promotion costs, AHN reported on the same day.

Vietnam’s beer and alcoholic beverages market this year will reach a growth rate of 12-14 per cent despite the high inflation and economic downturn, Vietnam News cited data provided by the Viet Nam Alcohol, Beer and Beverage Association on December, 30.

Bia hoi, or draught beer, remains particularly popular with Vietnamese drinkers, says the association, with 1,500 to 5,000 litres imbibed daily. Meanwhile, sales of bottled beer for home consumption are also up - as are prices: a 24-bottle case now retails for VND30-50,000 more than last year.

Hang Buom Street, famous in the capital city of Ha Noi as the centre for beer sales, maintains its hectic atmosphere. Vendors there say the rising retail cost of a case of brew reflects the higher wholesale costs they're paying.

"All costs have risen from 30 to 70 percent, so the price of beer is going to go up, too," said a vendor.

Viet Nam is viewed by brewers as an enormous market, with 33 million people aged 20-40 and an average beer consumption of about 18 litres per person per year - about 16 per cent of the consumption in Ireland and half the level consumed in South Korea. Vietnamese beer companies are targeting an ...More Info

Two years ago, Italian authorities came across what appeared to be a disproportionately large consignment of beer destined for Malta from an Italian businessman in Cesena, the Malta Independent posted on December, 28.

This fact led to a massive tax fraud investigation, which eventually uncovered a €150 million value added tax fraud operation and a €2 million beer tax fraud related to fake beer shipments to Malta that never took place, but which in reality were destined for the Italian market itself.

The €2 million in beer tax fraud effectively meant the Italian businessman, who was arrested last month and is now facing trial, had purported to be shipping 16 million pints of beer to the Maltese market.

Upon further investigation, the Italian authorities also found fake Maltese Customs stamps at the businessman’s Cesena warehouse.

It was a routine check by the Italian authorities on a small firm purporting to be exporting beer to Malta, according to Italian prosecutors in “absolutely excessive quantities for the country’s small market” that spurred investigations in February 2006.

Ensuing investigations by the Italian authorities, OLAF – the EU’s anti-fraud agency, and the Forlì Customs department into the business conduct of Guido Minerva uncovered an enormous tax fraud operation ...More Info

Buoyed by brisk beer sales, Suntory is set to overtake rival Sapporo Breweries Ltd. as Japan's No. 3 beer maker this year for the first time in its history, claiming a market share of about 13 percent, the Japan Times reported on December, 27.

"We will aim at 15 percent (market share) first and then 20 percent," President Nobutada Saji said, unveiling the company's plan to increase its line-ups next spring of low-priced beerlike beverages, or "third-category beer," to that end.

According to the CEO, the company plans to spend about ¥200 billion on mergers and acquisitions of beverage and food makers, mainly in Asia and Oceania, to strengthen its overseas operations.

"The recent appreciation of the yen is definitely an opportunity to seize on," he said, indicating the possibility of buying out more than one company for several billion yen each.

However, given the worsening economic conditions both at home and abroad, Saji said he "might consider putting off the timing of investments after examining the circumstances."

USDA estimated last week’s barley shipments at 227,000 bushels, which compares with zero for the week before and 15,000 bushels for the previous year, Agweek posted on December, 29.

US barley shipments are estimated to be 10.1 million bushels compared with 23.5 million bushels for last year at this time.

With no barley exports reported for last week, the year-to-date export sales pace for barley to 10.2 million bushels compared with 40 million bushels for last year at this time.

Cash barley bids in Minneapolis remain at $2.60 for feed and $5 for malting barley, it is reported.

Ukraine's 2009/10 barley exports are likely to constitute 6.0 mln tonnes, Reuters cited data by the UkrAgroConsult consultancy on December, 30.

UkrAgroConsult said the 2009 barley harvest could fall to 10 million from 12.3 million, as the nation’s farms are likely to reduce the 2009 grain sowing area.

The experts’ estimates of Ukraine’s barley are as follows:

Opening stocks: 1,962 thousand tonnes in 2009/2010; 837 thousand tonnes in 2008/2009;

Area seeded: 4.82 mln ha in 2009/2010; 4.23 mln ha in 2008/2009;

Area harvested: 4.5 mln ha in 2009/2010; 4.1 mln ha in 2008/2009;

Yield: 2.2 tonnes per ha in 2009/2010, 3.0 tonnes per ha in 2008/2009;

Crop: 10.0 mln tonnes in 2009/2010; 12.3 mln tonnes in 2008/2009;

Imports: 3 thousand tonnes in 2009/2010; 5 thousand tonnes in 2008/2009;

Supply: 11.965 mln tonnes in 2009/2010; 13.142 mln tonnes in 2008/2009;

Exports: 6 mln tonnes in 2009/2010; 6 mln tonnes in 2008/2009;

Demand: 11.05 mln tonnes in 2009/2010; 11.18 mln tonnes in 2008/2009;

Ending stocks: 915 thousand tonnes in 2009/2010; 1,962 thousand tonnes in 2008/2009;

Samantha L. Walker, Michail Fourgialakis, Belen Cerezo and Stephen Livens

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 113(1), 61–66, 2007 Microbial biofilms can form in dispense outlets as a result of poor or inadequate cleaning and can be difficult to remove using conventional practices. Enzymatic cleaners might help to remove biofilms by degrading the exopolysaccharide layers in which the microbes are embedded. A multispecies biofilm comprising wild type dispense isolates of Flavimonas oryzihabitans, Lactobacillus brevis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Saccharomyces cerevisiae was generated on a section of tubing and fitted into a pilot dispense system, which was left uncleaned for 12 weeks. After cleaning approximately 104 viable aerobes and 103 viable anaerobes were still present. Stainless steel coupons and pieces of dispense line contaminated with biofilm were incubated in the laboratory with an enzyme mix containing varying proportions of -amylase, -glucuronidase, glucose oxidase, dextranase, protease and pectinase. Cultures grown on stainless steel had significantly (F pr. < 0.05) less viable cells than nonenzyme treated biofilms, but this was dependent on the microbial species. Typically Lactobacillus brevis was most susceptible to the enzyme treatment. Cultures grown on dispense line were much more resistant to enzymatic digestion. Pre-digestion with protease was most effective for removal of Lactobacillus brevis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides but not for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Flavimonas oryzihabitans. In the simulated bar, predigestion with protease reduced the viable cell count by 0.64 log units for the aerobes and 1.9 log units for the anaerobes. This study demonstrates that pre-digestion with enzyme solutions before line cleaning is useful for treating heavily contaminated lines in trade. Key words: Biofilm, cleaning, dispense line, enzyme, exopolysaccharide (EPS), line cleaner, stainless steel. Load full article, 6 pages, 1581 Kb, PDF file