Anheuser-Busch InBev NV has sued an Illinois state regulator for blocking its attempt to buy an alcoholic beverage distributor, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, Reuters reported on March, 11.

The lawsuit by the world's largest brewer followed this week's ruling by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission that the Leuven, Belgium-based company was a "nonresident dealer," making it ineligible under state law to also operate as a distributor.

AB InBev had sought through its Wholesaler Equity Development Corp affiliate to buy the 70 percent of City Beverage it did not already own, for what it called a "substantial amount of money."

The seller is Soave Enterprises, a privately held, Detroit-based company with holdings in dozens of companies.

AB InBev has owned 30 percent of City Beverage since 2005.

A spokeswoman for the commission declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Chicago federal court against the Illinois commission and Acting Chairman Stephen Schnorf.

Illinois has a "three tier" system for selling alcoholic beverages that requires producers to sell beverages to wholesalers or distributors, which then sell them to bars, restaurants and stores.

The commission had in its March, 10 ruling defended the system, which it said achieves the public policy objectives of avoiding potential vertical ...More Info

China’s Chongqing Brewery Co Ltd sold 1 million kiloliters of beer last year, 2.11% more than in 2008, China Knowledge cited on March, 12 a company statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Net profit attributable to shareholders surged 10.91% year on year, hitting RMB181 million, and operating revenue was RMB2.26 billion, up 6.56% from a year earlier.

Earnings per share were RMB 0.37 and a dividend of RMB0.3 per share will be paid, the company said.

In 2010, the brewery aims to sell 1.12 million kL to reap RMB2.59 billion in operating revenue. Capital expenditure could reach RMB1.49 billion.

Japan’s Asahi Breweries said on March, 10 its total beer sales dropped by 12.5% to 126,946 kl in February 2010.

As compared to the same month in 2009, sales of ordinary beer fell by 11.6% to 81,349 kl last month. Sales of low-malt happoshu beer plummeted 20.7% to 17,894 kl, whereas malt-based new genre beer saw a 9.4% decline in demand to 27,703 kl.

As for sales by brand, Asahi’s Style Free showed a 9% decline to 810 cases, sales of Super Dry dropped by 11.3% whereas sales of Clear Asahi remained the same as in February 2009 at 1,360 cases.

The company’s total beer sales in the first two months of this year dropped by 9.9% to 214,768 cases, the biggest decline shown by happoshu beer (minus 23.5% versus the same period in 2009). Ordinary beer saw a 10.1% drop in demand, whereas sales of new genre beer increased by 3.1%.

Belarusian brewers increased their beer exports by 66.7% in the first two months of this year, Prime-Tass reported on March, 11.

Total export of Belarusian beer amounted to 23.63 thousand hl in January – February 2010.

The main export destinations for the nation’s beer industry are the neighbouring Russia and Ukraine, as well as Moldova, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, and the UK.

A state plan stipulates an export volume of 0.347 mln hl for the current year.

French maltster Soufflet has begun pilot production at its new malthouse in Nogent, France, in January 2010, L'Est Eclair posted on March, 11.

The construction works have not been really completed but the test malting was started at the beginning of this year. The plant with its capacity of 165 thousand tonnes of malt per year is the world’s largest malthouse, Thierry Berger, Marketing and External Relations Manager, said.

The new facility has become an extension to Soufflet’s existing malthouse producing annually 72 thousand tonnes of malt. Total investments volume has not been disclosed.

“Of our 21 malting plants across the world, this one is incontestably the gem,” Mr. Berger said.

Malting barley sellers have shown little interest in deals over the last week, La Depeche posted on March, 12.

The area planted to malting barley in the EU is much smaller this year and the seeding is behind schedule due to unfavourable weather.

The sowing conditions have already raised questions on the quality of this year’s barley crop, industry sources said.

Statistics Canada said on March, 10 that it has reduced marginally the nation’s barley exports forecasts for 2009-10 due to strong competition in the world malting barley market.

Canada’s carry-out barley stocks are forecast to fall by 23% to 2.2 mln tonnes, slightly below the 10 year average.

The off-Board price of feed barley is forecast to fall by about C$30/t from last year, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said.

For 2010-11, Canada’s barley seeded area is forecast to fall by 3% to 3.4 mln ha but harvested area is expected to rise due to lower abandonment. Production is forecast to decrease marginally to 9.45 mln tonnes as yields fall to trend levels. Total supply is forecast to fall by 6% to 11.69 mln tonnes due to lower carry-in stocks.

Domestic feed use is projected to decline due to lower livestock numbers. Total exports are forecast to be unchanged from 2009-10 at 2.3 mln tonnes in 2010-11 while carry-out stocks fall by 5% to 2.1 mln tonnes. The off-board price of feed barley is forecast to fall slightly from 2009-10.

FranceAgriMer raised on March, 10 its forecast for France’s barley sales to other EU nations.

About 3.9 mln tonnes of French barley are expected to be sold within EU in 2009/10 (+65,000 tonnes versus the forecast posted last month), mostly due to an increased demand for French barley in Spain, FranceAgriMer said.

Spain is forecast to purchase about 600 thousand tonnes of French barley in 2009/10 versus only 200 thousand tonnes last year.

France’s malt exports are expected to reach 1.1 mln tonnes this season, the forecast reduced by 100 thousand tonnes versus last month.

Yang Shengli Liu Zhongshan, Chi Shengzhou, He Sheng, Meng Qingwei, Liu Congcong, Lin Yi and He Guoqing

J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 361–367, 2009 ABSTRACT
This study used a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, which expressed both beta-glucanase enzyme and reduced Proteinase A expression during wort fermentations. The genetic stability and fermentation features of the strain were examined. The recombinant strain’s proteinase A activity was reduced compared to the parent strain; beta-glucanase was produced throughout the fermentation. The fermentation with the recombinant S. cerevisiae strain exhibited a larger reduction in beta-glucan content than what was observed with the control strain, with beta-glucan degradation above 80%. The foam stability period was reduced when the beer produced by the recombinant S. cerevisiae was stored for 3 months. SDS-PAGE analysis of the beer proteins indicated that lipid transfer protein 1 had disappeared. Fermentation studies indicated that based on the parameters examined, this recombinant strain was suitable for industrial beer production. Key words: draft beer, foam, beta-glucanase, proteinase A, recombinant S. cerevisiae.
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