Worldwide consumption of beer could remain flat this year as the economic downturn hurts demand after several years of impressive growth, Reuters reported the opinion of industry players on February, 5.

"With the financial crisis, market conditions are changing. The big question mark is no longer supply but demand," said Alain Caekaert, buying director at Malteurop, at a gathering which took place in northern France on February, 5.

Between 2005 and 2008, worldwide beer production rose 14 percent to 1.8 billion hectolitres (39.59 billion Imp gallons) to meet rising consumption, especially in emerging countries.

After rising 5.3 percent in 2007, global demand had been forecast to grow by 2 to 2.5 percent in 2008, but these expectations have been scaled down.

"With the crisis, some people think it will be more like zero growth," said Jean-Claude Girard, managing director at malt broker Interbrau. For 2009, the consensus is already for no rise, he said.

In response to stalling demand, brewers may turn more to beer with lower malt content that is cheaper to produce and buy.

"The global recession could lead to changes in consumption patterns," Alain Le Foch, Malteurop's managing director, said.

In China, for example, the amount of malt used to make a hectolitre of ...More Info

Asahi Breweries reported its results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 on February, 5.

Japan's biggest beer maker said its operating income in fiscal 2008 rose by 8.7% to 94.5 billion yen ($1.1 billion) from 87 bln yen registered in fiscal 2007. However, the company’s net sales dropped 0.1% to 1,462.7 bln yen in 2008.

Asahi’s net income grew 0.5% to 45 bln yen in fiscal 2008, it is reported.

In the financial year ended December 31, 2008 Asahi’s sales of ordinary beer decreased by 2.8% to 685.73 bln yen (705.46 bln in fiscal 2007), sales of low-malt beer (happoshu) fell by 13% to 110.31 bln yen (124.7 bln in fiscal 2007), whereas the sales of new genre no-malt beer grew by 25.5% to 77.47 bln yen (61.72 bln in the previous fiscal year).

In terms of cases, Asahi’s ordinary beer sales dropped by 4.4% to 129.01 mln cases, happoshu sales lost 16% (29.02 mln cases in fiscal 2008), and new genre beer sales grew by 23% to 23.47 mln cases.

The brewer forecasts its net income may rise to 50 billion yen ($559 million) in the 12 months ending December, 2009. Full-year revenue may rise 1.9 percent to 1.49 trillion yen this year.

Unofficial national brewer sales indicate an increase of 5.6% in taxable removals from 12,780,000 barrels (revised) in December 2007 to an estimated 13,500,000 barrels in December 2008, the US Beer Institute reported on February, 5.

YTD taxable removals grew by 1.1% to 184.705 mln barrels in December, 2008, it is reported.

Taxable removals measure the amount of beer shipped from domestic brewers to distributors within the U.S. market.

Total YTD imports of malt beverages from all countries reported by United States Department of Commerce in 2008 constituted 26.715 mln barrels compared to 2007 total imports of 27.407 mln barrels.

The US YTD export of malt beverages to all countries was 2,773.7 thousand of barrels in 2008 (+15%). This figure does not include shipments to military posts overseas or shipments to Puerto Rico and other US territories.

The State-by-State Beer Shipments Estimate for December 2008 increased 3.4% from 15,348,849 barrels in December 2007 to an estimate of 15,824,265 barrels in December 2008. YTD State-by-State Beer Shipments Estimate for 2008 is 213.536 mln barrels (+0.6%).

Japan's largest beer maker Asahi Breweries denied a report it was considering a bid for Anheuser-Busch InBev's South Korean unit, Reuters communicated on February, 5.

"There is no such truth that we are considering an acquisition at this moment," Asahi said in a statement.

An Asahi spokesman said his firm had not been approached by either Anheuser-Busch or South Korea's Lotte Group about buying Oriental Brewery Co.

In South Korea, Lotte spokesman Choi Kyung-In said the Nikkei report was "purely speculative."

"Lotte is not involved in any talks to acquire a stake in OB. It's quite far-fetched to claim we are considering a joint bid to acquire a stake in OB."

There was no immediate comment from OB.

Previously, Nikkei business daily reported Asahi and Lotte Group were in talks on a joint acquisition of South Korea's No.2 brewer for 100 - 150 billion yen ($1.09 - 1.64 billion).

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world's largest brewer, owns a majority interest in Oriental Brewery and is planning to put it up for sale, possibly by the end of February, it was reported.

Anheuser has informally asked Lotte to bid, but the sides have not yet reached an agreement on a price, the Nikkei said.

It said the Belgium-based brewer would ...More Info

Having gone through a bad crisis some years ago, maltsters are in a better position now to face a possible lower demand of malt, a report claimed earlier this month.

Now, there are more larger and financially stronger malt companies. Many maltsters have long term agreements with brewers, which guarantee volumes and malting margins for some years to come.

There had been a massive construction program of new malting capacities, which has been shelved except for factories already under construction. Construction plans for nine factories with a total capacity of 820,000 tons have been abandoned temporarily - or possibly forever, industry analysts inform.

According to experts, malt markets are connected globally, i.e. supply and demand must be compared for the whole world, with two exceptions, China and Russia.

The large Chinese malting companies along the coast have entered export markets some years ago and will sell at least 3 – 400,000 tons annually into world markets. But the large number of smaller inland malting companies produce only for local consumption; their total capacity is irrelevant for the world S/D.

Russia had been a malt importer for years, but imports dropped year after year with the expansion of a modern Russian malting industry. In 2008 ...More Info

As there are still large quantities of 2008 malting barley on farms and country silos in France and Germany, the discussion about spring barley acreage in 2009 does not excite trade and industry as much as in other years, industry analysts communicated earlier this month.

For reasons of safety, quality and price the malting industry plans to build up a major carry-over, up to two production months more than in normal years. That would reduce the needs from crop 2009 to 10, maximum 11 months of production, it is reported.

Rather harsh winter conditions in large parts of Europe do not threaten winter crops yet because of good snowcover, but a humid and cold winter brings about losses of yields anyway. In many EU countries winter grain plantings are lower, planting took place under adverse conditions, and less fertilizer was applied. Spring planting as early as in February of last year seems totally excluded.

The acreage forecasts of malting barley are uncertain, estimates of experts even in the same region can differ substantially. Present average guesses are:

UK winter barley – 405,000 HA (last year 418,000), spring barley – 650,000 HA (590,000 HA);

French spring barley – 515,000 HA (unchanged);

German spring barley - 500-525,000 ...More Info

Australia’s barley crop 2008/2009 is estimated at 6.4 – 6.6 mln tonnes, industry experts communicated on February, 2.

The share of malting barley is forecast to constitute only 1.6 mln tonnes.

The export surplus of malting grades is approximately 450 – 550.000 tons, depending on the quality requirements of buyers.

According to industry sources, Western Australia recorded the best yields and qualities, although rains at harvest impacted the quality to some extent. South Australia, Victoria and Southern NSW suffered from bad dryness and finally also from untimely rainfalls. Screenings are high in the Southeastern states. High protein and discoloured grains are minor problems.

Western Australia will have a selection rate of about 40 % malting barley, the other states only around 20 %. As half of the export surplus is already sold, Australian exporters can afford to be selective for the rest of the campaign, it is reported.

The barley crops of Mercosur survived droughts and rainstorms in surprisingly good form, analysts reported earlier this month.

According to the latest estimates, Argentina harvested 2.0 mln tonnes of barley. Analysts estimate the nation’s barley demand at 1 mln tonnes, whereas its malting barley supplies are set at 1.7 mln tonnes.

Brazil’s barley demand is about 550 thousand tonnes, its malting barley supplies are 190 thousand tonnes. Uruguay’s barley demand is estimated at 310 thousand tonnes, whereas its malting barley supplies constitute 380 thousand tonnes, it is reported.

Argentina will fill the import demand of Brazil and be able to ship a few cargoes to the Northwestern corner of South America, experts maintain.

Marketa Dvorakova, Maelle Douanier, Marie Jurkova, Vladimir Kellner and Pavel Dostalek

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 114(2), 150–159, 2008 Hot water (45°C) extracts of ten barley varieties and their corresponding malts were analyzed in terms of antioxidant activity. The ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and radical scavenging activity (ABTS), ranged from 0.23–0.45 mg GAE/gdw for malt and 0.12–0.25 mg GAE/gdw for barley. The hull-less malt KM 1910 was the variety with the best antioxidant properties, whereas the highest antioxidant capacity for barley was detected for the variety Merlin. A significant positive correlation between the methods FRAP, ABTS and ITT was found (p < 0.01). The influence of fertilization (20 kg N/ha) on barley antioxidant capacity was studied. The results obtained suggest that the impact of fertilization was not evident and that it depends significantly on barley genotype. The total polyphenol content, as measured according to Folin-Ciocalteu’s method, ranged from 0.6–2.9 mg GAE/gdw and correlated positively with all the antioxidant methods used (p < 0.01). Free phenolic compounds were measured by HPLC with a CoulArray detector. The dominant phenolic compound was ferulic acid and its content ranged from 12.5–21.9 and 7.8–56.1 mg/gdw for barley and malt, respectively. The content of catechin ranged from 11.0–17.0 mg/gdw in barley and 0.9–12.1 mg/gdw in malt. Key words: antioxidant capacity, barley, electrochemical detection, HPLC, malt. Load full article, 10 pages, 1237 Kb, PDF file