Heineken Ireland's alleged breaches of a joint-venture agreement have resulted in well over €10 mln losses for the Nash drinks company, it has been claimed before the Commercial Court, The Independent reported on October, 16.

The proceedings by Hartside, an Isle of Man-based company, against Heineken were transferred to the Commercial Court this week by Mr Justice Peter Kelly.

Hartside claims it and Heineken, then named Murphy Brewery Ireland Ltd, entered into a joint-venture agreement (JVA) with several other parties in November 1996 for the acquisition and ownership of Nash Beverages Ltd (NBL).

A number of ancillary agreements were also entered into including a management agreement between Hartside and Heineken and a keg delivery agreement, it is claimed.

It is claimed Heineken has breached the terms of the JVA and the management agreement in taking steps which had, and have, the effect of advancing Heineken's own interests and depressing the value of NBL. It is claimed Heineken also passed on unauthorised costs to the Nash company.

Hartside is seeking orders compelling Heineken to comply with its JVA obligations.

Kirin Holdings Co. jumped 5.8 percent to 1,483 yen after Morgan Stanley lifted its rating to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', Thomson Reuters communicated on October, 23.

Investors have undervalued the company's solid earnings and there is long-term potential for synergies if a merger with Suntory is realised, Morgan Stanley said in a client note.

A Kirin executive has said Japanese beer makers Kirin and Suntory could agree as early as this year to a merger that would create one of the world's largest beverage and food firms.

The brokerage raised its target price to 1,760 yen from 1,480 yen.

A group of members of the Ukrainian parliament have suggested the parliament raising excises for beer twice - to UAH 1.2/litre, UkrInform communicated on October, 22.

The relevant bills were registered in the Verkhovna Rada mainly by BYuT faction MPs.

The document authors say the aim of increasing the excises is to curb consumption of alcohol.

On July 2009, Ukraine increased the excise-duty for beer by 93.5% to UAH 0.6/litre.

Belarusian beer production decreased by 7.2% in January – September this year as compared to the same period in 2008, Prime-Tass reported on October, 20.

Total output of Belarusian beer amounted to 2.66 mln hl, National Statistics Committee said.

In September 2009, the nation’s beer production increased by 5.5% as compared to the same month last year, to 300 thousand hl.

EU’s malting barley markets have heartened up this week, La Depeche posted on October, 23.

Brewers have hinted they were interested in making some purchases and this fact has benefited the malting barley market, particularly, the crop 2010. The sellers are taking their time before answering to requests, hoping for a more important increase in malting barley prices.

During the last two weeks feed barley prices have rallied for a 25-cent gain, Randy Brag of Valley Grain Services in Casselton, N.D, was quoted as saying by Farm & Ranch Guide on October, 22.

However, most elevators are still refusing to even offer a bid for cash malting barley sales, because the supply pipeline remains clogged from the farm bin through the maltsters and brewers, he said.

“We're still seeing some pressure on the barley market from guys wanting to get some barley moved so they can make room for corn, beans and sunflowers.” Brag said. “And yet everyone is on the full side, and we have been fighting that since July. Things are moving, but they just aren't moving fast enough for everybody. We have a pile of grain we need to work through.”

Some growers have expressed optimism after hearing that maltsters are offering contracts for 2010 that are ranging from $3.55 to $4 per bushel. But Brag cautions that even though those prices are fairly good, considering the current situation, the maltsters have already said they won't be contracting as many bushels in 2010 as they have in the past.

“The malting and brewing industries, with this crop and the ...More Info

Canadian Wheat Board released on October, 22 its latest Pool Return Outlook (PRO) for the 2009-10 crop year.

Malting barley values have dropped by C$4 per tonne to C$208 per tonne of 2-row malting barley and to C$190 per tonne of 6-row malting barley. Pool A feed barley is unchanged from September PRO C$145/tonne.

Malting barley prices were pressured lower by large malting barley stocks, ample global production and a strong Canadian dollar. Malting barley prices also continue to be pressured down by large supplies of malting-quality barley in Europe and increased production estimates in Australia. Timely rains and good growing conditions have been favourable for the Australian barley crop. The USDA increased its forecast Australian barley production to 7.8 million tonnes, up 800 000 tonnes from last year. Increased production in Australia, if realized, would add to already-large global supplies of malting barley and pressure malting barley values closer to feed values, CWB said.

The USDA is forecasting global barley production of 147 million tonnes, which is five million tonnes larger than the five-year average. Statistics Canada has revised its Canadian barley production forecast up from 8.9 million tonnes to 9.2 million tonnes. Large carry-in stocks of barley will counter smaller-than-normal Canadian ...More Info

Tomáš Horák, Vladimír Kellner, Jiří Čulík, Marie Jurková and Pavel Čejka

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 113(2), 154–158, 2007 This work presents the development of a simple, rapid and low cost method for the determination of some beer flavours as esters such as isoamyl acetate, ethyl caproate, ethyl caprylate, phenyl acetate, ethyl caprate, phenylethyl acetate, ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate and ethyl palmitate using stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE). The combination of this extraction technique with solvent back extraction and subsequent gas chromatographic analysis with flame ionisation detection was used for the determination of these compounds. The effects of different mixtures of organic solvents and the influence of sampling time and time of solvent back extraction were studied. An optimum procedure for the SBSE method was developed. The method had high repeatability (RSD 2.1–7.3%), good linearity (the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.9995 for quadratic fit over the concentration range from 0.015 to 30 mg/L) and acceptable recoveries (78–107%) and precision (RSD < 7.3%). Key words: Beer, beer flavours, solvent back extraction, stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE). Load full article, 5 pages, 799 kb , PDF file