Vietnam’s beer industry is proudly showing a significant growth this year, a representative of the Viet Nam Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Association (VBA) was quoted as saying by VNS on December, 24.

"In 2009, the domestic beer industry is estimated to reach a growth rate of between 12 and 15 per cent over last year," said Nguyen Thi Huyen, secretary of the association.

By the last month of this year, almost all of the alcohol and beer companies in the country reached around 90 per cent of their 2009 targets, Huyen said.

"This number is really high compared to last year when it was only 60-70 per cent," Huyen said, adding that some big companies announced that by the middle of December they had exceeded their targets.

The weather is one of many factors helping the industry to achieve a high growth rate this year.

This summer, it was so hot that demand for beer strongly increased.

This year, moreover, the impact of inflation has been reduced, so many people are able to afford beer.

"Another reason is that consumers prefer domestic beer because it is more suited to their tastes," Huyen said.

According to the association’s forecasts, beer consumption in the coming months will increase due to the ...More Info

Japanese brewer Kirin Holding Co. said it is proceeding smoothly with merger negotiations with Suntory Holdings Ltd., but details such as the merger ratio still haven't been decided, Dow Jones reported on December, 23.

"We are in a final stage of negotiations toward a basic accord," said a Kirin spokesman, adding that nothing had been decided.

A merger between Kirin and Suntory would create a formidable competitor to the world's leading brewer, AB InBev N.V.

Kirin and Suntory have said there was the possibility of reaching an accord this year or by early next year. But it may be difficult to sign a pact before the end of the year, and a deal may be inked in January or later.

A Suntory spokeswoman said "nothing specific has been decided," and didn't elaborate.

According to a report by The Nikkei, Kirin and Suntory are close to hammering out a merger ratio, the key to whether the two firms will move forward with plans to integrate their businesses in the spring of 2011.

Plans call for Kirin and Suntory to combine their holding companies at a ratio of 1 to about 0.7, meaning Kirin would have the larger value, and the value of unlisted Suntory's ...More Info

Russia’s beer market is forecast to drop by 10-15% in 2010, RBC-Daily communicated on December, 28.

The nation’s beer market stopped growing in 2008. The decrease constituted 0.6%. This year, the negative trend continued – in January – November Russian brewers produced 6.1% less beer than in the same period last year.

According to analysts, the economic crisis and the beer excise increase which will take effect in January will result in a double-digit drop in the market. Brewers assure the production will drop by up to 40-50% as a result of the government’s decision to triple excises on beer.

The most important decline is expected to be registered during the first quarter of next year, when distributors start to sell the stock made in 2009.

The majority of analysts agree that the share of low price beer will drop the most due to the increased excises, RBC reported.

A shift from beer to wine and sharply reduced beer consumption at the workplace have hit beer sales in Denmark, which have dropped by 8 percent in 2009 alone, daily Berlingske Tidende informs.

Over the past three years, Danish beer sales have decreased by 15%, it is reported.

However, sales of beer to tax-free outlets at the country's borders have risen considerably so sales within Denmark do not show the whole picture, a Carlsberg executive is quoted as saying.

China Resources Snow Breweries Limited, which is 49% owned by the world's second-largest brewer SABMiller, inaugurated its new unit in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province on December, 28, China Knowledge reported.

The new unit, capable of producing 50,000 kiloliters of beer per year, will help boost the economic development of Yichun as well as the Xiao Xinganling region, according to Wang Aiwen, Yichun's mayor.

CR Snow Breweries runs more than 60 breweries in mainland China and its Snow brand beer is the world's top-selling beer, with a production capacity of 7 million kiloliters.

In the first half of this year, sales of Snow brand beer amounted to 3.57 million kiloliters, up 23.6% from a year ago.

A consortium of investors made up of Crédit Agricole du Nord Est, IDIA, Unigrains, Société Générale Capital Partenaires and Crédit Agricole’s Brie-Picardie and Champagne-Bourgogne regional divisions, are supporting Malteurop in a growth capital operation worth 55 million euros, the mating company announced on December, 7.

Besides, the shareholding cooperatives of Malteurop are providing 60 million euros in equity and quasi-equity for this operation in order to help it refinance its latest international acquisitions.

Malteurop has become the leading maltster on the world’s three biggest beer markets (Europe, Asia, and North America) with an industrial presence on four continents (Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia) following the 2008 acquisition of ADM malting, the subsidiary of American group Archer Daniels Midlands specialising in the conversion of barley into malt, and a Russian malt factory belonging to the brewer Ochakovo.

Founded in 1984, the Malteurop group is controlled by five French cooperatives from the Champagne and Lorraine regions, led by Champagne Céréales, federated within the agroindustrial group SICLAE, Cofimalt’s majority shareholder.

With an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tonnes of malt, it operates 23 malt factories and has 900 employees. At 30th June 2009, the group had generated a consolidated turnover of 743 million euros.

Ukraine’s barley production forecast for 2009/10 has been increased to 11.3 mln tonnes, UkrAgroConsult reported on December, 29.

The analytical centre estimates Ukraine’s barley production in 2008/09 at 11.8 mln tonnes.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, 3.6 mln tonnes were exported between 1 July and 10 December this year (4.3 mln tonnes in the same period last year).

Hop production for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in 2009 totalled 94.7 million pounds, up 17 percent from the 2008 crop of 80.6 million pounds and 57 percent above the 2007 production of 60.3 million pounds, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported on December, 18.

Idaho’s production increased 8 percent in 2009. Production in Washington and Oregon increased 18 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

Acreage in Idaho was up in 2009, but decreased in Washington and Oregon. Yields increased in Washington to 2,533 pounds per acre, in Idaho to 1,943 pounds per acre, and in Oregon to 1,948 pounds per acre.

Washington growers produced 79 percent of the U.S. hop crop for 2009. Zeus and Columbus/Tomahawk were the leading varieties in Washington, accounting for 48 percent of the State’s hop crop. In Oregon, Nugget and Willamette were the leading varieties, accounting for 70 percent of the State’s hop production.

Kang Wei, Fei Dai, Feibo Wu and Guoping Zhang

J. Inst. Brew. 115(3), 208–213, 2009 ABSTRACT
The variation of beta-amylase activity and protein fractions in barley grains was evaluated using 148 barley genotypes grown in the field and two cultivars under in vitro culture with two temperature treatments during grain development. The results showed that there was significant genotypic variation in beta-amylase activity and protein fraction content. Regression analysis indicated that beta-amylase activity was positively correlated with total protein and the level of each of the protein fractions, with the correlation coefficient between beta-amylase activity and hordein content being the highest. Furthermore, higher post-anthesis temperatures (32/26°C, day/night) significantly enhanced beta-amylase activity and protein fraction content, presumably as a result of reduced starch content. Albumin and glutelin were the least and most affected, respectively, in comparison with the plants under lower temperature (22/16°C). Temperature post-anthesis also influenced the morphology of the starch A granule and the number of B granules, suggesting the altered starch structure may also be a reason for deteriorated malting quality under high temperatures. Key words: barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), beta-amylase activity, protein fraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
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