Japan's Asahi Breweries Ltd. managed to maintain the top spot in domestic market share during the calendar year 2009, Dow Jones reported on January, 8.

Asahi said its domestic beer sales during 2009 came to 177.0 million cases, down 2.5% on year. Meanwhile, Kirin's annual beer sales amounted to 176.8 million cases, down 1.9%. One case is equivalent to 12.66 liters of beer.

The brewers compete for customers in Japan, where a shrinking population and weak economy are taking an increasing toll on demand.

Beer shipment data during the January-September period showed Kirin leading Asahi thanks largely to the popularity of lower-priced, non-malt beer-dubbed "the third beer." Third beers are subject to lower taxation because they are made from ingredients other than malt.

But the full year data suggest Asahi successfully gained momentum toward the year-end shopping season, partly due to the unflagging popularity of its "Super Dry," Japan's best-selling beer.

Heineken Entreprise, the French division of the Dutch brewing giant, has surpassed for the first time its rival Brasseries Kronenbourg (owned by Danish Carlsberg) by achieving a 36.1% market share in 2009, Rayon Boissons communicated on January, 7.

Brasseries Kronenbourg accounted for 35.5% of the French beer market last year.

The sales volume of Heineken’s flagship brand of the same name increased by 17.6%, Desperados– by 16.9%, Pelforth – by 16.2%, and that of Affligem – by 22.7%.

“We are reaping the fruit of our promotion labour in 2009,” Pascal Sabrié, Heineken Entreprise Vice President, commented.

Kirin Brewery Co. aims to sell 176.1 million cases of beer this year, 0.4% lower than its estimated sales in 2009 amid saturated domestic demand, Dow Jones reported on January, 8.

The Tokyo-based brewer is contending with a difficult business environment in Japan, where a shrinking population and weak economy is sapping sales.

Consequently, Kirin Holdings is in talks to merge with privately held Suntory Holdings Ltd. A successful conclusion to the talks - expected as early as this month - would create a company large enough to take on the world's leading brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V.

Chile’s No. 1 brewer Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA (CCU) said on January, 6 its preliminary beer sales volume in Chile and Argentina amounted to 9 mln hl in 2009.

In Chile, beer sales fell 1.2% to 1.6 mln hl on the year in the final quarter of 2009 and 1.9% to 5.1 mln hl for the year.

In neighboring Argentina, beer volume sales rose 1.4% to 1.3 mln hl in the fourth quarter, but jumped 7.7% to 4.0 mln hl in 2009.

The company said it expects to release its first full year Financial Statement under IFRS during the month of March.

CCU is a diversified beverage company operating principally in Chile and Argentina. CCU is the largest Chilean brewer and the second-largest Argentine brewer. The Company has licensing agreements with Heineken Brouwerijen B.V., Anheuser-Busch Incorporated, PepsiCo Inc., Paulaner Brauerei AG, Schweppes Holdings Limited, Guinness Brewing Worldwide Limited and Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

Concerns are turning to Foster’s A$1 bln beer division, The Sidney Morning Herald reported on January, 8.

This division has lost market share and there are fears it could lose two lucrative beer licences, Stella and Corona, which contribute more than $80 million a year in pretax profit.

The Stella beer licence is understood to expire this year and competitors have already started lobbying the owner of Stella, Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is the world's largest brewer. The chances of Foster's keeping the licence, which is worth about $15 million a year, look grim, analysts said.

First, under the Foster's management, Stella has been steadily losing market share and second, since the global merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev last year, the new entity's strategy is to appoint one brewer in each region to manage its portfolio of licences.

Right now, its beer licences in Australia and New Zealand are split between the beer duopolies, Lion Nathan and Foster's. But it recently tipped the balance in Lion Nathan's favour when it granted Lion the licence to produce and distribute its Budweiser portfolio of brands in Australia and New Zealand, effective from December.

If Foster's loses the Stella licence, investors would cope, but if it lost the ...More Info

Japan’s fourth-largest brewer Sapporo Holdings Ltd. is planning to focus on expansion in North America and Southeast Asia, where returns on investment will be greater than in China, Chief Executive Officer Takao Murakami was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on January, 7.

“Competition in China is intensifying, and everyone seems to be having a hard time boosting profits,” Murakami, 64, said. “We can’t take the risk of entering a market that may give us returns 10 or 20 years later.”

Sapporo’s rivals are acquiring competitors or combining as Japan’s shrinking population cuts demand. The planned merger between Kirin Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd., Japan’s two biggest beverage makers, would be “threatening,” said Murakami, even as he predicted Sapporo will beat its 2009 profit estimate and boost sales by volume this year.

“It’s good to start expansion ahead of its rivals in a growing market like Vietnam,” said Ichiro Takamatsu, chief investment officer at Alphex Investments Co., a Tokyo-based hedge-fund advisor. “More consolidation may take place” in the industry.

While Japan’s demand for beer and similar drinks will probably shrink 2 percent this year, Sapporo’s sales of the beverages may increase 5 percent by volume on increased marketing for the 120-year anniversary of its ...More Info

The CWB said on January, 6 it had increased its total grains 2009-10 export target by two million tonnes over mid-summer forecasts and is now projecting the highest total exports in 10 years.

In its annual Grain Marketing Report, the CWB has announced an export target of 18.7 million tonnes. The last time total exports exceeded this amount was in 1999-2000, when exports reached 19.2 million tonnes.

The CWB’s total export target for barley is 1.7 million tonnes.

September’s good weather was a double-edged sword for Canadian malting barley producers. The weather that preserved the quality of the crop in Canada was equally beneficial to northern-tier states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.

Good-quality crops in major exporting nations, including Canada, the U.S. and Europe, have pressured malting barley prices. Australia expects to harvest its largest crop since 2005-06 and, if good quality prevails, will be an aggressive competitor in the world malting barley market against Canadian exports. By contrast, Western Canada’s barley crop is projected to total 8.55 million tonnes, down from 11.2 million tonnes last year.

“We expect that the overall lower price structure for malting barley will result in increased imports into China, which is a very price-conscious market,” the CWB said. ...More Info

The combination of falling beer consumption and last season's bumper plantings may have dented the price of spring malting barley - but there is reason to hope the market will bounce back in 2010, Eastern Daily Press cited some experts’ opinion on January, 5.

“In a crop production cycle, high harvest tonnages and depressed prices tend to be followed by less drilling and lower tonnage from the next crop, pushing prices upwards,” Andersons research economist Graham Redman said.

Mr Redman predicted that the spring malting barley market will rally - partly because of the likely reduction in the barley crop in Britain and other EU producers, including Denmark and Germany, with farmers already turning instead to wheat.

He added that the fall in beer consumption may have bottomed out and may start to rise by next autumn.

Mr Redman said that growers able to achieve high yield and a reasonable malting specification could see a reasonable gross margin for their crop.

His calculations indicate a gross margin of £437/ha - the third highest combinable crop option behind milling and feed wheat. This is based on a spring barley grain price of £125/t and a yield of just 5.25 t/ha.

It should also be remembered there ...More Info

Stijn D. M. Van Laere, Kevin J. Verstrepen, Johan M. Thevelein, Patrick Vandijck and Freddy R. Delvaux

ABSTRACT Despite all research published on aroma chemistry, the flavour of complex products such as beer and wine cannot be predicted. However, it is well known that the aroma profile of beer and wine is dominated by components that are formed during fermentation. The most important fermentation volatiles in beer are higher alcohols and their acetate esters. In this paper, the current knowledge on the formation of these compounds is summarised. Furthermore, several ways to control the formation of higher alcohols and their esters during fermentation are discussed.
Cerevisia, 33 (2) 2008 http://www.cerevisia.eu