Shareholders at Irish drinks group C&C GCC. on September, 25 overwhelmingly approved a 180 million pounds ($288 million) deal to buy the Scottish and Irish businesses of the Belgian brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, Reuters reported on the same day.

The acquisition, which includes Scotland's top lager, Tennent's, was announced last month and gives C&C a strategic partnership with AB InBev, the world's largest beer maker.

"In the Tennent's brand we are buying an iconic product... " John Dunsmore, C&C's chief executive, told shareholders, adding that he would not rule out further acquisitions in the long term. The deal includes the Tennent's Wellpark brewery in Glasgow, and will leave AB InBev with just three breweries in the UK, although one of those in London will close next year.

For the Belgium-based brewer it will help cut debt after InBev bought Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch last November for $52 billion in the world's biggest cash takeover.

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and AB InBev are close to a deal on the sale of AB InBev’s Central European operations, Beverage Manager cited persons familiar with the matter on September, 25.

The two parties are expected to meet next week with discussions ongoing, sources said.

CVC recently submitted a 1.57 billion euro bid for AB InBev’s assets. AB InBev itself valuated the assets at 2 billion euros.

The news that Russian government had proposed to triple excise tax on beer y 2012 brought shares in Danish brewer Carlsberg down by more than 3%, Reuters reported on September, 24.

Russia is an important growth market for Carlsberg, the world's fourth biggest brewer, which owns Russian Baltika and had a Russian market share of 38.3 percent in 2008 - though analysts said the impact the measure would have on beer sales in the country was as yet unclear.

Carlsberg shares traded down 3.2 percent at 380.50 crowns at 0922 GMT (5:22 a.m. EDT), recovering from a one-week low of 375.50 crowns.

The Russian government late on September, 23 approved a 2010 budget that includes a plan to triple the excise duty on beer from the current 3 rubles.

The changes are expected to bring an extra 65.1 billion rubles of revenues into government coffers next year.

A half liter bottle of beer in the shops typically costs between 20 and 50 rubles.

A Carlsberg spokesman said the company was still waiting for information on the final proposal to be sent to Russia's parliament, the Duma.

"We have not got any information on what proposal this will end up with, (and) which the finance minister will put ...More Info

Carlsberg spokesman Jens Peter Skaarup confirmed Vietnamese media reports that the Danish brewing giant would withdraw from its partnership with Vietnam National Tobacco Corp (Vinataba), Danish news source Business.dk reported on September, 23.

The parties have not signed an agreement yet and Skaarup did not wish to disclose the price Carlsberg would get for its stake in the 50/50 joint venture.

Carlsberg teamed with Vinataba in connection with the purchase of the activities of UK brewer Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) in 2008, but the partnership does not make sense for the Danish group, as the main activity is the construction of a brewery in southern Vietnam close to another Carlsberg facility.

Vinataba is also selling S&N's Kronenbourg beer brand in Vietnam, but Carlsberg now intends to take over this activity.

Carlsberg's primary partner in Vietnam is Habeco. Last week, the Danish brewer said it will raise its stake in Habeco to 30% from 16.7%.

Polish brewers report the biggest decrease in sales in recent years, Polskie Radio communicated on September, 24.

The golden era of beer in Poland has finished. According to unofficial data released by Puls Biznesu, sales of beer in Poland in the first half of 2009 have declined by 10 per cent in comparison with the same period last year.

Breweries in Poland have already suffered the consequences of the falling trend in beer sales, combined with the recession. Zywiec Group, which belongs to Heineken International, has recorded a dramatic drop in sales, while Kompania Piwowarska, Poland’s leading beer producer, is planning to close down a brewery in Kielce, central Poland.

Market analysts cite the main reason for weak sales of beer in Poland as an increase in excise tax, which went up by 13.6 per cent on 1 March. Annual beer sales in Poland now amount to 20 billion zloty (4.8 billion euro).

The average Pole drinks 95 liters of beer a year, which is more than the EU average for beer consumption, and signifies that the Polish beer market has already hit its peak and will likely not expand anymore.

US-Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Co. has begun selling Coors Light in Costa Rica and is considering adding a brewery in Latin America, Bloomberg reported on September, 24.

Costa Rica will bring to about 30 the number of countries, including Mexico and China, where Coors Light is sold. The Denver- and Montreal-based brewer is taking advantage of a growing trend toward light beer in countries that have leaned toward full-calorie brews traditionally, said Paul Mendieta, managing director for Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.

The company may need to develop manufacturing in Latin America to accommodate growth of Coors Light, its best-selling brand, he said. Options may include building a brewery or cooperating with another brewer, according to Mendieta.

“As we continue to expand into new markets, it is definitely something that we plan on addressing,” Mendieta said. He declined to specify potential timing of such a move.

Brewing locally would cut freight charges, a “significant portion” of the cost of selling in the region, he said.

The challenge for Molson Coors is choosing markets without a dominant international competitor where consumers are already comfortable with the taste of light beers, said Erin Ashley Smith, an analyst with Argus Research in New York.

“They ...More Info

The activity on the European malting barley markets remains very insignificant, La Depeche reported on September, 25.

Large malting barley crop in Germany offers little chances for French malting barley in this market. French malting barley prices delivered to German maltsters are not competitive at the moment as compared to domestically produced grain. Besides, German market players who had made significant purchases Fob Moselle before getting full information on German crop hastened to resell their stock, which lay heavy on the EU market.

Nevertheless, several small deals in spring barley crop 2010 were closed last week. Prices for the 2010/2011 crop are pressed downwards by those for the current crop, which in their turn are influenced by the abundance of the yield.

Meanwhile, the area allotted to the next spring barley is expected to decrease. Actually, good weather France enjoys this autumn can induce farmers to prefer planting winter varieties.

A large crop of barley now being harvested, ample carryover stocks and slow demand have all come together to put barley prices in the pit right now, Marv Zutz, executive director of the Minnesota Barley Growers Association, was quoted as saying by Farm & Ranch Guide on September, 23.

The barley crop in Minnesota was a little light in regards to yield because of the wet spring, Zutz noted. However, almost all of the barley is excellent quality.

“Barley can't take a lot of moisture well, it doesn't have ‘wet feet,' so we saw the wheat out-yielding the barley in most situations, and a large portion of the barley crop will make malting grade,” Zutz said. “Most of the farmers should come out okay since most of the barley was contracted.”

But for those who didn't have a malting barley contract, it is a completely different story, with the pipeline clogged with barley and most elevators not even posting a cash bid for malting barley.

“Hopefully that will change once we get through harvest and everyone is able to itemize the quality and size of the crop that is out there,” Zutz said, “but right now there is just no demand for barley, with ...More Info

Present barley crop estimates for the Black Sea markets (Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine) are 31.3 mln tons vs. 38.7 mln tons in 2008, a minus of 7.4 mln tons, market analysts communicated at the beginning of this month.

Export forecasts early in September were 8.0 – 8.5 mln tons after shipments of 11.235 mln tons in the crop year 2008/09.

Ukraine reports shipments of 1.5 mln tons in July/August, the first two months of the new grain year. Barley acreage in Ukraine had been expanded by 630,000 ha, while a slow erosion of barley acres continued in Russia, particularly in the fertile regions of Southern Russia, close to Black Sea ports. Yields were down in Russia and the Ukraine, following an unfavourable, very dry growing season. Bad losses were reported from the Volga region. The harvest in Ukraine is complete, Russia reported 40% of its barley harvested by the 25th of August.

Early supply and demand estimates (at the beginning of this month) were as follows:

Russia 2009 Barley production: 16.8 mln tons (vs. 23.137 mln in 2008); Acreage: 9.58 mln ha (9.618 mln ha in 2008); Yields: 1.85 t/ha (2.46 t/ha in 2008); Exports: 1.7 mln tons (2.479 mln tons last year).

Ukraine ...More Info

The latest statistics on China’s barley imports became available at the beginning of September.

According to industry sources, China imported 535,000 tons from Australia, 368,000 tons from Canada, and 239,000 tons from France, for a total of 1.142 mln tons in the January – July period.

Surprisingly the USDA raised its Chinese acreage figure from 712,000 to 800,000 ha and its crop forecast from 2.8 to 3.1 mln tons.

Stefan Kwiatkowski, Ursula Thielen, Phyllis Glenney and Colm Moran

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 115(2), 151–158, 2009 Much research has been carried out over the years examining cell wall glucans from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and this study further examines aspects of the binding of (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan in the yeast cell wall, using a number of isolation techniques as well as monoclonal antibodies able to recognize a mixed (1›4)- alpha-D-glucan/(1›6)-beta-D-glucan. Extraction of purified glucan, from S. cerevisiae cell wall, with 0.1N HCl, at 80°C for 6 h, released into the solution (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan and (1›6)-beta-Dglucan as the major polysaccharides, along with an insoluble pellet highly enriched in (1›3)-beta-D-glucan. The released (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan was composed of a high molecular size >100 kDa fraction (7.2% w/w) and a medium 5–50 kDa polysaccharide (10.2% w/w), with the (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan covalently bound to the (1›6)-betta-D-glucan. The average molar ratio of the ?:ß glucan was 47: 53 in this mixed polysaccharide. The structure of this polysaccharide was different from the structure of plant starch or animal glycogen as monoclonal antibodies specific to yeast (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan/(1›6)-beta-D-glucan did not recognize the plant starch or animal glycogen standards. Key words: (1›4)-alpha-D-glucan, 1›6)-beta-D-glucan, glucan specific antibodies, NMR, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast cell wall. Abbreviations: BSA – Bovine Serum Albumin; D2O – deuterium oxide (heavy water), d.w. – dry weight; DI – deionised water; GEM – Glucan Enriched Material, HRP – Horse Radish Peroxidase. Load full article, 8 pages, 496 kb , PDF file