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Brazil ministry to probe AmBev's sales practices
By Patricia Duarte

BRASILIA, Brazil, (Reuters) - The Brazilian justice ministry's antitrust watchdog said on Friday it would investigate AmBev (AMBV4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (ABV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to see if the beverage giant's sales practices broke competition rules.

The probe of Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (AmBev) by the Economic Rights Secretariat (SDE) comes after smaller privately owned local rival Schincariol said the market leader's sales agreements were preventing its expansion.

Schincariol, which was chiefly responsible for weakening AmBev's dominance of the Brazilian beer market last year, says an AmBev loyalty program started last November obliged retailers to agree to only sell AmBev products and not advertise rival brands.

Schincariol had also said AmBev slashed the price of its Antarctica beer to make it a "combat brand" against the smaller rival's main beer, Nova Schin, the SDE said.

Schincariol lawyer Vinicius Camargo Silva said the company had statements from retailers backing up their claims and evidence of AmBev loyalty programs in northeast Brazil.

AmBev, which is being bought by Belgium's Interbrew (INTB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) , denied the claims.

"The company's client incentive programs follow the standards of the international market ... There is no condition of exclusivity - the point of sale is totally free to sell rival products," AmBev said in a statement.

It also said the retail price of its Antarctica beer was 30 percent higher than Nova Schin and 8.2 percent more expensive than Kaiser, the main Brazilian brand of Canada's Molson Inc. (MOLa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , so it could not be considered a "combat brand".

The SDE said AmBev had 15 days to respond to the claims once it had been formally notified of the investigation.

AmBev, which posted a second-quarter net profit this week that was doubled from a year earlier, has said it held a 66.3 percent share of the Brazilian beer market in June, up from 65 percent in March.

Schincariol, which helped drag AmBev's market share to 63.2 percent last December from 70.1 percent in June 2003 with a revamp of its main brand and a big advertising campaign, held a 13.1 percent share of Brazil's beer market in June.

The stock price of AmBev, whose beer brands include Brahma and Skol, closed steady at 657.50. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index finished 0.8 percent in the red.

More news: select articles from news database concerning you country!

In its report of July 29 the International Grain Council increased its figure of world trade of malt from 4,27 Mill. to 4,43 Mill. tons in 2003/04. It cited the unexpected rise of shipments to Venezuela as well as larger demand in Southeast Asia, South Africa and Mexico. Shipments to Russia have not declined as much as feared, but will do so in future. The IGC hopes for a higher beer output in Japan, as general economic prospects improve. Finally the report mentions the reduction of world trade by 300.000 tons, as this figure is moved from world to internal EU-trade.

Denmark: The harvest has not started, but it may not be excluded that the current good weather may advance its start to end of this week. The outlook so far still is very promising. First hand sellers are very reluctant to offer at realistic levels and may miss the export markets altogether.

Mixed quality in UK spring barley and bumper crops in EU, by DAN BUGLASS
VERY little of the Scottish spring barley crop has so far been harvested, but the early samples of Optic intended for the malting trade have been decidedly mixed.

This week will be critical for the malting barley crop. Further rain will inevitably result in weathering and poor quality, according to Euan Cunningham, a grain trader with WN Lindsay, who operated over a large territory in south and central Scotland.

He said: "We saw some Optic yesterday which had been combined over the weekend and the quality was surprisingly good, but it's going to be down to the weather from now on."

Some of the last of the Pearl winter barley is reported to be badly sprouted. However, the situation with oilseed rape is approaching disaster proportions, with reports of up to 50% of the crop sprouted with the result that it will be heavily discounted even from the current low price level. The trade is reluctant to discuss values for malting barley at this stage other than to state that the maltsters will be looking to secure a sizeable share of the Scottish crop, probably in the region of 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes.

In England, it is estimated that around 25% of the spring barley crop is safely in store, but early reports indicate mixed quality. On mainland Europe there are signs of a bumper crop, according to Josh Dadd, of the Home Grown Cereals Authority.

He said: "With the EU harvest well under way, early indications are for a good malting barley crop. France and Germany have reported excellent crops, and despite waiting for the quality news from the UK and Denmark, the market is working under the assumption that the EU malting barley surplus will be greater than previously though. This has put pressure on prices in recent weeks."

Very little wheat will be harvested in Scotland before the beginning of September, and even in England HGCA reckons only 10% of the crop has been combined.

Major concerns about quality have pushed the premium for milling to ?19 per tonne over feed grain. It looks increasingly likely that a substantial quantity of the UK wheat crop will be destined for intervention in November. With sterling edging lower against the euro, it is projected the intervention price will be around ?69 per tonne delivered.

On the international front, the US appears to be heading for a record maize crop of close to 277 million tonnes. This would be 20 million tonnes, roughly the size of the entire UK cereal crop, higher than the previous record. In addition, the US department of agriculture has again raised its assessment of world wheat stocks for 2004/05 by 10.6 million tonnes to 608 million tonnes. World demand for wheat is also expected to increase to 598.6 million tonnes. In the medium term this is likely to put pressure on world stocks which now stand at only 142 million tonnes. Any major climatic event could impact very rapidly on prices.

From "The Herald"

Belarus: harvest progress as of Aug. 17 According to Belarus' Agriculture and Food Ministry, as of August 17 this year grains and pulses in the country (not including maize) have been harvested from 1.4 million hectares, which is 61 percent of the area to be harvested. The agrarians collected 4.4 million tonnes of grain at an average yield of 3.27 tonnes per hectare.

Malting barley has been harvested from 68,200 hectares, which is 78.06 percent of the area to be harvested. The crop as of the day has totalled 242,400 tonnes at a yield of 3.62 tonnes per hectare.

According to preliminary estimates of local specialists, this year's total grain crop in the country is going to reach 6.5 million tonnes.

Rapeseeds harvest is also continued in the country. The agricultural producers have harvested the crop from 70,800 hectares (56 percent of area), which yielded 7,500 tonnes of the seeds (at 1.78 tonne per hectare).

from AgriMarket.Info

More news: search the e-malt.com news database!

* - 70/30 = 70% Average two Rows Spring and 30% Six Rows Winter
** - 50/50 = 50% Average two Rows Spring and 50% Six Rows Winter

Theoretical malt prices for crop 2003 are not quoted.

Malting barley prices. French barley prices.

Nominal prices.

EURO = USD 1.2352 August 18, 2004
Crop year		2003		2004
Parity		FOB Creil		FOB Creil
Position		July 2003		July 2004
Type	Variety	EURO	USD	EURO	USD
2RS	Scarlett	nq	nq	112.00	138.50
2RS	Prestige	nq	nq	111.00	137.50
2RS	Cellar	nq	nq	111.50	138.00
2RS	Aspen	nq	nq	110.50	136.50
2RS	Optic	nq	nq	110.50	136.50
2RS	Astoria	nq	nq	110.00	136.00
2RS	Cork	nq	nq	110.00	136.00
6RW	Esterel	nq	nq	101.00	125.00

nq - Not quoted

Prices for Danish and UK malting barley are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Table of the week

The Japan Beer Market, H1 2004

Company	Market share, % H1 2004
Asahi Breweries Ltd.	41.7%
Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd.	35.7%
Sapporo Holdings Ltd.	11.9%
Suntory Limited	9.9%
Orion Beer Co.	0.9%

Graph of the week

Agenda

August 2004:
Great British Beer Festival;
Worcester Beer and Cider Festival;
BeerTek China Beer and Brewing Technology Exhibition;
Peterborough Beer Festival 2004;
FOODWORLD Food and Beverage Exhibition;
TecnoBebida Latin America International Exhibition of Technologies for the Beverage Industry;

September 2004:
6th BELGIAN BEER WEEKEND;
China Brew 2004 / China Beverage 2004;
International Brewery and Soft Drinks Industry Exhibition;
FOOD & BEVERAGE PROCESSING & PACKAGING INDONESIA 2004;
Pivoindustria International Beer Industry Exhibition;
National Beer Wholesalers Show 2004;
PAN ASIAN FOOD & BEVERAGE TRADE SHOW 2004;
Barley Malt Quality Evaluation Short Course;
EUROMALT BARLEY SEMINAR 2004;
bevex Beverage Trade Fair;
InterBev 2004;
YUGOSLAVIA INTERNATIONAL FAIR OF FOOD & BEVERAGES 2004;
BevExpo 2004;
Great American Beer Festival;

October 2004:
Great American Beer Festival;
bevex Beverage Trade Fair. Germany;
Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival;
ST. PETERSBURG FOOD SALON 2004;
Beer Fair. Spain;
Expo Bebidas Beverage Exhibition. Mexico;
EXPOALIMENTOS Y BEBIDAS 2004. Panama;
Fall Eastern PA Breweriana;
Knoxville Brewer's Jam - A Memorial to Tom Rutledge;
INTERPRODTECH Food and Beverages Processing Exhibition. Russia;
Alko and Drinks Show Alcoholic Beverages and Non-alcoholic Drinks Exhibition. Russia;
WORLD FOOD KAZAKHSTAN 2004;
PAN ASIAN FOOD & BEVERAGE TRADE SHOW 2004. Canada;

More events are available on site e-malt.com