World’s largest brewer, Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, said on November, 12 its total 3Q09 beer volumes decreased 3.3% to 96.48 mln hl, with own beer volumes down 3.1% to 94.97 mln hl.

In 9M09, total beer volumes decreased 1.6% to 276.20 mln hl, with own beer volumes down 1.4% to 271.77 mln hl, AB InBev said, adding that it managed to increase over the period its market share in 5 of its key markets: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, the UK, and the US, and maintained market share in the Ukraine.

3Q09 Focus Brand volumes grew 0.4% led by Antarctica, Brahma and Skol in Brazil, Harbin and Budweiser in China, and Stella Artois in the UK. In 9M09 Focus Brands grew 1.6%.

Revenues fell 0.4% in 3Q09 to USD9,763 mln and rose 1.8% in 9M09 to USD27,461 mln, while revenue per hl was up 3.9% in 3Q09 and 4.6% in 9M09 due to continued effective revenue management including selected price increases, the brewing giant said.

CoS for 3Q09 decreased 6.4% overall and 2.8% per hl as the company benefited from synergies achieved, procurement efficiencies and lower costs of non-hedgeable inputs. In 9M09, CoS decreased 4.2%, and 1.1% per hl.

The combined expenses for distribution, sales and marketing, administrative ...More Info

Companhia de Bebidas das Américas - AmBev - announced on November, 12 its results for the 2009 third quarter (Q3 2009).

During the third quarter, AmBev’s normalized consolidated* EBITDA totaled R$2,373.8 million, an 11.0% organic increase with margins expanding by 70 bps and reaching 43.9%. Consolidated volumes delivered solid growth, driven by Brazil once again, and were 4.7% higher in Q3 2009.

The year to date EBITDA totaled R$7,339.8 million representing a growth of 13.7% and a margin expansion of 180 bps to 44.7%.

Consolidated volume reached 36.3 mln hl (34.4 mln hl in Q3 2008). Revenues per hl increased to R$148.9 from R$139.4 a year ago.

YTD (year to date) consolidated volume amounted to 107.69 mln hl.

The company’s beer volumes in Brazil grew 12.3% to 18.01 mln hl during Q3 2009 driven by real growth in consumer disposable income for the third quarter in a row and strong market share gains. YTD Beer Brazil volume increased organically by 8.9% to 52.53 mln hl. During Q3 2009, the Brazilian unit of world’s No. 1 brewer AB InBev increased its market share by 218bps, reaching 69.4%, according to Nielsen, due to the good performance of the company’s innovations.

Net revenue per hectolitre decreased 0.1% in ...More Info

Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes announced on November, 11 its unaudited consolidated interim financial results as of and for the nine months period ended 30.09.2009 (9M2009).

The company’s total beer sales volume declined by 2% to 17.5 million hectolitres in 9M2009. Consolidated EBITDA amounted to TRL807.5 million (+ 8.6%). Consolidated net sales revenue increased by 6.3% to TRL3,072.8 million.

The improvement in the operational profitability was partly limited by non-cash foreign exchange losses recorded in 1Q2009 stemming from financial indebtedness in soft drink and international beer operations, more than half of which was recovered in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2009. As a result, Anadolu Efes generated a consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders of TRL403.8 million in 9M2009, indicating an increase of 13.6% compared to 9M2008.

Anadolu Efes’ consolidated gross profit increased by 6.1% in the nine months period of 2009 versus the same period of 2008 and reached TRL1,548.3 million. Although there was a significant improvement in EBI’s gross margin due lower input prices, Anadolu Efes’ consolidated gross profit margin remained almost flat at 50.4% in the nine months period of 2009, as the gross margin of soft drinks and Turkey Beer Operations declined in the period due to higher ...More Info

Despite a sluggish 2009 global economy, Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd (APB) ended its fiscal year on 30 September 2009 on a high note, the company said on November, 12.

Compared with FY2008, attributable net profit after exceptional items (ANP) registered a record S$172.4 million, an increase of S$48.6 million or 39%, due to an improvement in attributable net profit before exceptional items (APBE) of 20% or S$26 million to S$158 million. Another factor that contributed to the higher ANP is an exceptional gain of S$14.4 million from a compensation fee derived from the termination of a business development project as well as the sale of Liquorland Limited, a chain of liquor retail stores in New Zealand. Excluding APB's share of an impairment charge* on Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd (Kingway) recorded in FY2008, translation differences and gestation losses**, organic APBE increased 6%.

Group profit before interest, tax and exceptional items (PBIT) gained S$29.5 million or 11% to reach S$307.2 million. Excluding translation differences, gestation losses* and APB's share of impairment charge on Kingway recorded in FY2008, organic PBIT grew 4%.

Group revenue for the year increased 2.1% to S$2.04 billion. Earnings (before exceptional items) and net asset value per share rose 10.1 cents to ...More Info

Brewer Thai Beverage PLC (ThaiBev) said on November, 11 its beer sales revenue dropped 28.7% to 20.49 bln baht in the first nine months of this year.

EBITDA of the company’s beer division plummeted 94.5% to 162 bln baht (2.96 bln in January – September 2008). The division ended the reporting period with a net loss of 1.2 bln baht (net profit of 830 bln in the same period last year).

EBITDA margin decreased from 10.3% in the nine months of 2008 to 0.8% in the same period this year.

The company said its flagship Chang beer sales continued to grow in North Asia (including Hong Kong. In the US, Chang beer is a relatively new entrant and distribution is continuing to grow so that while imported beers as a whole were down, Chang beer shipments were up. The brand is now making significant inroads both on- and off-premise. Chang is now authorized for sale in the Ra Sushi chain, one of the country’s largest sushi restaurant chains with 28 branches nationwide.

Russia's lower house of parliament, or Duma, cleared the final reading of a bill to triple duties on beer, Reuters reported on November, 13.

The bill, approved by a majority of 313 votes, clears the way for the duty on beer to increase to 9 roubles ($0.314) next year from the current 3 roubles.

Government officials have said the bill will bring in an extra 65 billion roubles of budget revenues in 2010, but market participants say the industry would incur heavy losses.

Danish brewer Carlsberg, which owns Russia's biggest brewer Baltika and generates nearly half its profits from Russia, has seen its shares tumble on the news about plans to raise the duty.

According to the bill, the excise tax will rise further to 10 roubles in 2011 and to 12 roubles in 2012.

GrainCorp Limited confirmed on November, 13 the completion of the acquisition of United Malt Holdings Limited for AUD757 million.

GrainCorp Managing Director Mr. Mark Irwin said, “Today marks a very special day in the 93 year history of GrainCorp. The purchase of the Canada Malting Company (Canada), Great Western Malting (USA), Bairds Malt (UK), and Barrett Burston Malting (Australia) transforms GrainCorp from an eastern Australian storage and handling service provider into an international agribusiness operating across four countries, with around half the company’s earnings now derived from barley and wheat processing.”

To complete the acquisition, GrainCorp successfully raised around AUD600 million through the issue of new shares.

“We wish to thank all of our existing and new shareholders for their participation in the capital raising. The acquisition of the Canada Malting Company, Great Western Malting, Bairds Malt, and Barrett Burston Malting means GrainCorp now has a much more stable and diversified earnings base, and from that base we will focus on providing long term earnings and value growth for shareholders,” Mr. Irwin said.

With the completion of the acquisition, GrainCorp has effectively doubled in size, meaning the new GrainCorp has,

• Become the world’s fourth largest commercial malt producer. • More than ...More Info

In October, many independent brewers in Germany and Benelux reacted to rising markets and started to cover part of their needs, balances for crop 2009 and larger quantities of crop 2010 for delivery in 2011, experts communicated this month.

Business covered at least one third of the independent brewers’ demand in Germany.

International business, if any, was restricted to a few small transactions, it is reported.

EU’s malting barley crop is quoted EUR 20,- above crop 2010, and crop 2012 EUR 17,- above 2011, industry analysts communicated earlier this month.

Nominal quotes: Danish and U.K. barley, crop 2010, October shipment, FOB seaport, EUR 135,-. German spring barley, crop 2009, Oct – Jan, delivered maltings, EUR 115,- to 120,-, crop 2010, ex harvest, 150,- to 153,-.

The prices for future crops reflect the resistance of farmers to present values; and there is a feeling in the market that present malting barley prices are attractive and bound to rise in future years.

Malting barley growers will have to wait until 2011 before crop prices improve, commercial director of Crisp Malting Group, Bob King, was quoted as saying by Farmers Weekly Interactive on November, 12.

The combination of high stock carryover and falling demand meant that maltsters had enough supply to last them for two thirds of the year, he said.

"In the UK, spring barley production was up by 25% in 2009. Both plantings and yields were higher than normal and that situation was echoed across north west Europe."

While the UK malting industry usually bought 1.9 million tonnes of malting barley, the first three months of this marketing year saw usage fall by 18%, he said.

"That was a result of falling beer sales, which reduced the demand for malt. Beer sales started to fall in the second quarter of 2008 as the recession hit, although there are some signs that stability could be returning."

Malt whisky production had also experienced a knee-jerk stop due to the recession, he noted.

Looking ahead, Mr King said the 2010 winter malting barley area was down by 5-10%, as growers had walked away from a crop that couldn't compete with wheat. Demand was expected to be similar to 2009 at ...More Info

UK Malting Barley Committee held its Autumn 2009 meeting to discuss the progress of new varieties within the testing system. The outcome was the removal of Cocktail from the approved list for brewing and distilling.

The updated IBD Approved List for Harvest 2010, incorporating the changes described above, is as follows:

Brewing use Winter varieties with full approval: Pearl, Flagon, Cassata; Spring varieties with full approval: Optic, NFC Tipple, Westminster, Quench; Spring varieties with provisional approval 1: Concerto.

Malt distilling use Winter varieties with full approval: none; Spring varieties with full approval: Optic, Oxbridge, Publican, Belgravia; Spring varieties with provisional approval 1: Concerto, Forensic.

Grain distilling use Winter varieties with full approval: none; Spring varieties with full approval: Decanter, Belgravia; Spring varieties with provisional approval 1: Forensic.

The EU sits on a surplus of 17 mln tons of barley of crop 2009, industry sources said at the beginning of November.

Exports during the first four months of the crop year were 319,000 tons. In the line of feed barley the EU is hopelessly uncompetitive against the Black Sea countries, US$ 160,- FOB against US$ 130,- and 140,- from the smaller resp. larger ports of the Black and Azov Sea.

As of now intervention is open in the EU, and massive applications are expected, several million tons. It remains to be seen, whether markets can be stabilized by this artificial outlet. As of next year, 2010/11, intervention will be abolished so that barley values will have to follow world markets. In all probability such a step will be another incentive to farmers to turn away from barley to more rewarding or safer produce.

Declan L. Goode, Catherine Halbert and Elke K. Arendt

Abstract:
The effects on wort quality when mashing with unmalted sorghum (0-100%) and malted barley (100-0%) in combination with industrial enzymes were evaluated. A mashing program with temperature stands at 50°C, 95°C and 60°C was used. Different combinations of commercial enzymes were evaluated. A heat stable α-amylase was found to be essential for efficient saccharification. The inclusion of a fungal α-amylase in mashes with a high sorghum content improved filtration rates to that of 100% malted barley mashes. Addition of a bacterial protease increased the amount of nitrogen solubilisation and peptide degradation. An increase of the relative proportion of sorghum in the grist resulted in decreases in wort filtration, colour, viscosity, attenuation limit, free amino nitrogen, high molecular weight nitrogen, and a corresponding increase in pH (p < 0.01). Overall the addition of malted barley in small proportions to unmalted sorghum mashes together with commercial enzymes was found to improve the potential for brewing a high quality lager beer from unmalted sorghum.
Key words: Adjuncts, enzymes, heat stable α-amylase, malted barley, sorghum, unmalted sorghum.
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