China Resources Enterprise, Limited said on March, 25 its beverage division delivered strong performance in 2009 with turnover and earnings climbing by 17.6% and 67.2% to new highs of HK$20,470 million and HK$684 million respectively.

Benefiting from product mix optimization, product upgrade and product display innovation, sales volume of beer rose by 15.3% to approximately 8,371,000 kiloliters.

Sales volume of Snow beer, the company’s national brand produced in cooperation with SABMiller, expanded further by 18.8% to about 7,244,000 kiloliters, consolidating its position as one of the leading beer brands in the world.

Strong volume growth has driven the turnover and earnings of the beer operation to soar by 17.6% and 81.2% to HK$18,878 million and HK$540 million respectively, China Resources said.

The company said it anticipates both the macroeconomic environment and consumer spending on the mainland to extend gains.

"In 2010, the Group's operating environment is expected to improve further on the back of a strengthening economy and the central government's policy in spurring domestic consumption," chairman Qiao Shibo said.

"Moving forward as a pure consumer play, we will keep strengthening our three core businesses to improve our profitability while actively extending our presence in the fast-growing China consumer market," Qiao said.

On March 25, Dutch brewing giant Heineken officially opened Sedibeng, a large-scale brewery located south of Johannesburg, a move set to challenge the world’s second-largest brewer SABMiller Plc in its home market, The Wall Street Journal communicated on March, 26.

The plant begins with annual capacity of three million hectolitres but can be expanded to six million, which would work out to about 120 million 66-centiliter bottles. The opening gives Heineken the ability to brew its namesake and Amstel brands locally for the first time since 2007, when it terminated SABMiller's license to brew Amstel.

"If you have to compete against SAB, you need to have strong fundamentals and a large brewery," said Tom de Man, president of Heineken's operations in Africa and the Middle East.

Mr. De Man declined to specify the savings the companies expect by producing drinks in South Africa and sourcing bottles locally, but he said the €310 million ($413 million) brewery will increase profitability and make it easier to grow volumes.

Beer companies have increasingly focused on developing economies as sales in Europe and the U.S. have slowed. Sales by volume grew 7.2% in South Africa from 2004-2009, compared with growth of 5.6% in the U.S. and ...More Info

Volume of beer sold in Russian cities amounted to 6 mln hl (297 bln roubles in money terms) last year, Financial Izvestya cited Nielsen data on March, 25.

At the moment, the demand for beer remains stable thanks to brewers holding prices at the expense of their own margins. But it is highly unlikely that the beer prices will remain “frozen” for a long time – the brewers will be too tempted to raise them as the season is close at hand already, experts said.

The nation’s beer output dropped by 29.2% in January – February 2010 as a result of a drastic increase in excise taxes on beer.

Argentina’s total beer consumption reached about 17 mln hl in 2009, which implies per capita beer consumption was 44 litres, Mundo Cerveza posted on March, 23.

The nation’s beer market is dominated by AB InBev’s Quilmes, which claims a market share of about 74%, followed by CCU with a 23% market share, whereas the rest is held by the German Isenbeck brewery.

The most popular beer brands in Argentina are Quilmes (40%) and Brahma, both brewed by Quilmes, Mundo Cerveza informs. About 80% of all beer sold in the country is consumed at home.

Premium beer segment accounts for about 15% of the total market and is led by Stella Artois (Quilmes) and Heineken (CCU).

A new trend has become apparent on the French malting barley markets this week: buyers have shown some interest in winter barley varieties of the campaign 2010/11, La Depeche posted on March, 26.

Though deals are now closed on both spring and winter malting barley, the prices have remained much the same, market sources said.

The market is now closely watching the outcome of the sowing in Germany and Scandinavia.

Elevators offering cash prices for malting barley remain few and far between, whereas feed barley prices have retreated another dime or so during the past two weeks, Farm & Ranch Guide cited Randy Brag with Valley Grain Services in Casselton on March, 24.

The reason for the downward pressure is farmers have been marketing some barley, even at the depressed prices, in order to pay down loans or getting operating capital for the coming crop year, Brag said.

“The prices are in the tank right now, but the farmers need a little cash,” he said. “Plus, there are some who have been able to deliver on their malting barley contracts and have a little extra that's going on the feed market.

“On the sales side, we have no exports and in the domestic usage there is really nothing exciting going on.”

According to Brag, the malting barley market started opening up three weeks ago or so, allowing the farmers to start moving their 2009 crop to the maltsters. But those growers who were hoping to sell directly off the combine are about five months behind and instead they are starting to move their crop in February.

And the maltsters, from what Brag has heard, aren't ...More Info

Dominik Szwajgier, Jacek Pielecki1 and Zdzisław Targoński

J. Inst. Brew. 111(4), 372–379, 2005 ABSTRACT
Ferulic acid, a very attractive natural antioxidant is present in beer in free form, but the main form is the bound form as feruloylated oligosaccharides. Previous research showed that feruloylated oligosaccharides more effectively inhibited lipid and Low Density Lipoprotein oxidation than free ferulic acid. The aim of the present study was to evaluate free and bound ferulic acid concentrations throughout the brewing process in experimental mashes (worts, beers during fermentation, maturation and storage), and to conduct a comparison in commercial beers. Another aim of the study was to investigate methods to increase levels of bound ferulic acid in beer due to the potential health benefits. Specifically, the influence of commercial enzyme preparations on both forms of ferulic acid contents was studied. Five commercial enzyme preparations during mashing were examined: Celluclast, Shearzyme, Viscozyme, Cereflo and Ultraflo. In all experimental beers, the concentrations of esterified ferulic acid were 4–6 fold higher than the corresponding free ferulic acid contents, depending on the enzyme preparation used. Ferulic acid contents in the ester form in experimental beers were in the range of 748.4 mg/hL to 1244.3 mg/hL, whereas the contents of free ferulic acid were in the range of 134.6 mg/hL to 275.2 mg/hL. Comparison of free and bound ferulic acid contents in experimental beers, produced using enzyme preparations and commercial beers found in a local market, showed that concentrations of bound ferulic acid in experimental beers were significantly higher than in commercial beers, whereas concentrations of free ferulic acid in experimental and commercial beers were comparable. Key words: Antioxidant, beer, ferulic acid, mashing, wort. Load full article, 8 pages, 562kb , PDF file