Tsingtao Beer, China’s second largest brewer, confirmed it would buy Jinan Beer for 250 mln yuan ($36.66 mln), China Daily posted on June, 9.

In analysts’ opinion, the purchase of the Shandong province based brewery was a way to fend off archrival Snow in the fight for the nation's beer market.

Tsingtao said it had signed a contract with Shandong Commercial Group to buy its subsidiary, which has an annual beer output of 300,000 kiloliters and 1.08 billion yuan in total assets.

Jinan Beer has a 30 to 40 percent market share in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong, and the deal, when finalized, would help push up the share that Tsingtao Beer has in Shandong to 80 percent, analysts said.

Under the agreement, Tsingtao Beer will buy just the regional brewer's brand and its sales channel while the Shandong Commercial Group will set up a new entity which would retain Jinan Beer's staff and factories. Analysts said this model would help Tsingtao save on money and time when finalizing the deal.

Shandong province has been the largest beer consumption market nationwide, accounting for 10 percent, followed by Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces.

"You cannot be a real leader unless you take over Shandong," said Teng ...More Info

Anheuser-Busch InBev announced on June, 5 that it has completed the sale of its remaining minority stake in Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd to Mr. Chen Fashu.

Mr. Chen has acquired Anheuser-Busch InBev’s remaining 7% stake in Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. for 235 million USD. Mr. Chen is a Chinese national and a private investor.

Under the terms of the agreement announced on 8 May 2009, Anheuser-Busch InBev sold 91,641,342 H-shares of Tsingtao to Mr. Chen at a price of HKD 19.83 per share.

In early May, the Belgium-based brewing giant completed the sale of a 19.9 percent stake in Tsingtao to Asahi Breweries Ltd. of Japan for $667 million.

A-B InBev is selling off assets to generate cash to help repay debt incurred from its $52 billion purchase of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch in November.

The Indian operations of Budweiser beer will be controlled by Ravi Jaipuria Corp through a joint venture with Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Economic Times reported on June, 9.

RJ Corp owns 51% in the joint venture and the shareholding will not be disturbed even as marketplace re-alignments take shape. The new operational structure agreed over the past few weeks will boost this JV’s market presence by adding on Budweiser volume. Budweiser, which sold over 1.5 million cases in FY09, is considered as one of the few successful international beer introductions in a country dominated by domestic lagers.

Budweiser and another local beer Armstrong gave Anheuser-Busch around 2 million cases volume sales in the last financial year, compared to the fledgling operations of InBev India International, which is the two-year-old JV between RJ Corp and InBev. “We have brought together the two sales operations in India. The unified structure is undertaking the sales, marketing and distribution of Budweiser and Armstrong, apart from other brands such as Tennents and imported beers including Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden (these trademarks belonged to InBev prior to the AB deal),” InBev India International CEO & Director, Raja Mukherji, said.

The combination could emerge as a potential force in ...More Info

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, cut its stake in Foster’s Group Ltd. to below the 5 percent “substantial” threshold after selling some shares, Bloomberg reported on June, 9.

The stake fell below the threshold on May 28, the Bank said in a filing without without disclosing its new ownership level. Under Australian stock exchange listing rules, investors holding 5 percent or more of a publicly traded company need to disclose movements in their stakes when above the “substantial” level.

The Frankfurt-based lender first revealed a 5.3 percent stake in Australia’s largest brewer in September. Molson Coors Brewing Co., the third-largest U.S. beer maker, in November said it had a 5 percent interest in Melbourne-based Fosters after entering cash-settled swap arrangements with Deutsche.

Under its arrangement with Molson Coors, the German bank retains ownership of the shares, with the Denver and Montreal- based brewer gaining an exposure to Foster’s stock price and dividends, Chief Executive Officer Peter Swinburn said last year when first disclosing the stake.

Troy Hey, a spokesman for Foster’s, declined to comment the latest events.

Foster’s shares rose 5 cents, or 1 percent, to A$5.10 at the 4:10 p.m. close of trading in Sydney. The announcement was made ...More Info

France’s beer consumption fell 5% last year due mainly to a smoking ban in public places and economic gloom, Reuters cited French Brewers Association (Brasseurs de France) on June, 10.

That follows a drop of 3.3 percent in 2007 when France prohibited smoking in restaurants, bars and pubs.

"We are in a severely falling market and this trend is strengthening," said Gerard Laloi, head of a group gathering some 70 breweries which make 99 percent of the French output.

The French drank 18.6 million hectolitres of beer in 2008, which puts them in the next-to-last seat in the European Union with an average of 30 litres per year, far behind the Czechs with 160 litres or the English with 110 litres.

France's beer habits are also changing, Laloi said.

Consumers are increasingly choosing specialized beers - Abby, amber or white - or high quality beers. Their sales rose by 5.7 and 6.4 percent respectively last year while classic beers like lagers, lost 18 percent, Laloi said.

"From September the impact of the financial crisis was very noticeable," he added.

However, the drop in consumption was compensated by a 33 percent rise in exports, mainly to other EU countries like Germany, France's main external market, Laloi said.

France is ...More Info

Brick Brewing Co. Limited, Ontario's largest Canadian-owned and Canadian-based publicly held brewery, released on June, 8 its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

"With fiscal 2009 behind us, we are focusing on the future of Brick Brewery," said George Croft, President & CEO. "The positive results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 demonstrate how the company will benefit from the significant and sustainable cost reductions made in fiscal 2009."

Brick Brewing’s net revenue grew by 3.2% to C$5.57 mln compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2009. EBITDA of C$1.16 million registered in Q1 2010 represents an increase of C$781 thousand, or 208.8%. The company’s net income in the quarter constituted C$431 thousand, compared to a loss of C$79 thousand in the first quarter last year.

During the first quarter, the re-launch of the Red Baron brand coupled with aggressive marketing support resulted in significant growth, with Red Baron volumes increasing by almost ten times as compared to Q1 2009. The company's premium Waterloo brands experienced a volume increase of 34%. The Laker Family brands underperformed this quarter, however Brick Brewing is focused on marketing and sales initiatives designed to improve Laker volumes.

Throughout the last half of fiscal 2009, ...More Info

For the first time in 10 years Ukraine’s beer production and consumption have registered a decrease, Delo.ua communicated on June, 9.

According to data by brewer Ukrpivo, Ukrainians consumed 13% less beer during the first four months of this year as compared to the same period in 2008. The situation was slightly improved by the beginning of the beer season. According to experts’ estimates, the drop in May consumption was already only 5 – 10%.

As stated by Constantin Klimenko, Marketing Director of SUN InBev Ukraine, the share of the cheapest beer has ceased to shrink whereas the superpremium segment, which was growing before the crisis, saw its sales drop by almost one quarter.

Analysts believe the above mentioned changes will hardly push brewers towards making fundamental changes to their portfolios or launching new brands in the economic segment. The brewers are forecast to actively promote their medium price segment beers which hold more than 70% of the Ukrainian beer market. “The launch of a new brand requires big investments,” Petr Chernishov, head of Carlsberg Group Ukraine, commented. “Under the current economic conditions brewers will not increase expenses on promoting cheap products.”

Besides, Mr. Chernishov said the profitability of medium price and premium beers ...More Info

Molson Coors is planning to boost its share of Scotland’s shrinking beer market to 20% by 2012, the Times online reported on June, 7.

The company, whose Carling brand is on the football shirts of both Rangers and Celtic, has a 7% share of the market. It believes it can triple that over the next three years.

Paul Miller, head of operations for Scotland, said: “The Carling brand is our number one priority.”

He said Molson Coors had committed £20 mln to the Scottish marketing and advertising of its brands, which also include Cobra and Grolsch.

“We can achieve this growth because we have a positive agenda. Our guys are totally passionate about beer,” Miller said.

The first and second-placed Scottish drinks companies — the Tennents brewer InBev, and Heineken, the owner of Scottish and Newcastle — had been trimming sales staff in recent months, he said.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us,” he said. “We’ve put 12 new sales people in place and we’ve picked up nearly 200 stockists.

“Some might see Scotland as a mature market they don’t want to invest in but we view it as a huge opportunity.”

Molson Coors also hopes beer can shed its image as a ...More Info

The revenue of the US malting industry for the year 2008 was approximately $643.1 mln, with an estimated gross profit of 14.05%, according to a latest report by Research and Markets.

The nation’s malt import was valued at $216.9 mln. The US export malt from 10 countries worldwide.

The industry also exported $259.6 million worth of merchandise to 23 countries.

Russia may soon be able to satisfy completely the domestic demand and become an exporter of malting barley, Daniil Briman, Chairman of the Union of Russian Brewers Council, was quoted as saying by the Union on June, 9.

“Russia may be able to satisfy 100% of its domestic demand for malting barley and malt already in the nearest future. At the same time, the raising quality of Russian malting barley and decreasing barley acreage in the EU nations create the prerequisites for Russia’s becoming one of the leading exporters of raw materials for the brewing industry in the near-term outlook,” Mr. Briman said at the World Grain Forum held at June 6-7 in St. Petersburg.

Today, Russian brewers purchase 80% of domestically produced malting barley and malt. Russia’s 10 malting plants have a total production capacity of about 1 mln tonnes.

Cool weather has pushed growth of Western Canada's barley crop at least 10 days behind schedule, Reuters cited the Canadian Wheat Board on June, 8.

"You're pushing development into a period with better likelihood of getting a (pre-harvest) frost," said Bruce Burnett, director of weather and market analysis for the Canadian Wheat Board. "It's not particularly what we need at this moment. It's just too cool."

There's little relief in forecasts for the Prairie region. Southern Manitoba, parts of which are still seeding, will have cool, wet weather through June, 10, according to Environment Canada. Daily low temperatures of just above freezing are also forecast for much of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The Wheat Board, which has a government-granted marketing monopoly on Western Canada's wheat and barley, releases its planting and production estimates on June, 11.

Late-spring frost continued to strike the Prairie canola crop over the weekend, but Burnett said he has not received reports of frost damage to cereal crops wheat, barley and oats.

Southern Alberta received some rain or snow over the weekend, which was welcome given its areas dryness, but the most parched areas in central Alberta and Saskatchewan stayed dry, Burnett said.

Adrian Forster

Introduction:
Today, production and storage of hop products largely take place under defined conditions. Special care is taken that negative influences - such as the presence of oxygen and high temperatures - on the quality are kept to a minimum. Comprehensive documentation on this topic is available (1). On the other hand, there is still little or no interest - as regards transport conditions. Temperature records during long- lasting transportation to Asian and South American countries, however, give rise to further, more intensive investigation. The problem of excessive temperatures, to which hop pellets are sometimes exposed, has already been discussed in a previous paper (2). These results can be supplemented by the following observations and investigations. Load full article, 11 pages, 70 Kb, PDF file