San Miguel Brewery Inc., the Philippines’ largest beer maker, achieved a 5% increase in sales revenue to P51 billion in 2009, its parent San Miguel Corporation reported on April, 15.

Efforts to raise volumes and manage costs resulted in a 3% growth in operating income to P16 billion, the company said.

San Miguel Brewery’s net income for the year was registered at P10 billion.

San Miguel Corp. will seek shareholder approval to sell majority stakes in its main businesses, signaling the largest Philippine food and drinks company will speed up expansion into faster-growing businesses, Bloomberg reported on the same day.

The Manila-based company’s plans to acquire assets in infrastructure, energy, telecommunications and mining “may require the further sell down of our stake in existing core businesses,” President Ramon Ang said in a statement.

Ang and San Miguel Chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. had previously sought to hold 51 percent of its Philippine food and drinks units. “We want to be able to act with speed when an opportunity to divest at an attractive price materializes,” Ang said.

Kirin Holdings Co. President Senji Miyake said last month that the Japanese brewer may seek control of its Philippine beer venture with San Miguel. Ang said then that ...More Info

Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd (APB) announced on April, 16 that it has acquired an additional 2,107,000 ordinary shares in PT Multi Bintang Indonesia, Tbk (MBI) from the public shareholders via a Mandatory Tender Offer (MTO).

The deal’s value amounted to Rp340.8 billion (approximately S$52.7 million). The tender offer price per share was Rp161,741, APB said.

The deal follows APB’s recent acquisition of a 65.1% stake in the Indonesian brewer in February this year.

Earlier this week, APB announced that it has also acquired a further 444,000 depository receipts of MBI shares issued by Hollandsch Adminstratiekantoor B.V. (representing an economic interest of 2.1% in MBI) through a Private Offer of the remaining depositary receipts held by investors other than Heineken International B.V. for a total consideration of Euro5.6 million (approximately S$10.5 million). This follows its initial acquisition of 723,120 depository receipts of MBI shares issued by Hollandsch Adminstratiekantoor B.V. (representing an economic interest of 3.4% in MBI) in February this year. The price paid per depository receipt is Euro12.55, which is equivalent to the tender offer price of Rp161,741 per MBI share.

In all, APB holds 15,823,570 ordinary shares in MBI (representing a controlling stake of 75.1% of MBI shares) and 1,167,120 depository receipts ...More Info

Beer production in Russia declined by 19.7% (to 16.6 mln hl) in the first three months of 2010 versus the same period last year, Russia's statistical agency, Rosstat, reported on April, 15.

In March, the nation’s beer output dropped by 10.8% yoy.

The biggest drop in production this year was registered in January (minus 44.2% as compared to January 2009).

The Union of Russian Brewers said that was a result of a tripled excise duty on beer, which came into effect on January, 1.

South African beer company, SABMiller, is set to come out of a temporary setback of its operations in India, after the Andhra Pradesh government allowed it to increase the prices of its brands recently, The Hindu Business Line reported on April, 14.

According to the company's managing director, Mr Paolo Lanzarotti, the brewer is also expanding capacity at one of its breweries in Karnataka after the plant's relocation.

India’s second-largest brewer’s sales were crippled last year because of a stand-off with the Andhra Pradesh Government. The company was unable to secure price increases from the Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation to partly offset the increase in the cost of raw materials and other inputs, and hence was forced suspend operations at the brewery for sometime during the peak season last year.

The retail price of beer is usually fixed by the respective State governments.

Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 30 per cent of volume sales for the company and about 16 per cent of total revenues. Its share in the State is about 60 per cent. The government has now allowed it to increase prices of its brands by nearly Rs 20 per bottle (at producer's level).

The beer maker is also planning to ...More Info

Beer sales dropped further in Hungary in 2009, the Association of Hungarian Brewers reported on April, 15.

According to the beer association’s data, sales of local brewers contracted by 12.4% year on year, with domestic sales declining 9%. The brewers expect a 2-3% drop in 2010.

The members of the AHB, which contribute 90% of domestic beer sales, marketed 6.289 million hectolitres of beer last year, which corresponds to a 12.4% yr/yr decline.

Besides the economic downturn, sales were negatively affected also by the VAT and excise tax hike in 2009. As a result, consumption dropped by more than the 5.5% fall registered in 2008, the Association said.

United States’ Brewers Association released on April, 14 its annual lists reporting the top 50 brewing companies in the country, based on 2009 beer sales volume.

“Beer lovers continue to find great value and enjoyment in fuller flavored craft beers,” said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. “Americans have an increasing appreciation of craft beers, and the growing number of brewers behind them."

The nation’s Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies are: AB InBev, MillerCoors Brewing Co., Pabst Brewing Co., D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc., and Boston Beer Co.

Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies List names the following companies as the nation’s top five brewers: Boston Beer Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., New Belgium Brewing Co., Spoetzl Brewery, and Pyramid Breweries Inc.

Three new breweries have made their first appearance on the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies list: Oskar Blues Brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing Co. and Bear Republic Brewing Co.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, USA, the Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade and education association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.

Mexico's No. 1 brewer, Grupo Modelo SAB has reached an agreement to establish a joint venture with agricultural commodities trading firm Cargill Inc. to supply its operations with barley and malt, Dow Jones reported on April, 14.

Modelo will have a 51% stake in the joint-venture firm, to be called Integrow Malt LLC, and Cargill will own the remaining 49%, Modelo said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Integrow Malt will occupy Modelo's malt factory in Idaho Falls. Besides supplying the Idaho Falls plant, the joint-venture will also become a long term supplier of malt and barley to Modelo's breweries and malt factories.

Modelo said the venture will help the Mexican brewer make its supply chain more efficient.

Modelo, the maker of leading U.S. import beer Corona, has about 58% of the Mexican beer market.

The CWB announced on April, 15 it has signed its largest long-term agreement for malting barley sales during a trip to China this week with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and other commodity groups.

The deal, worth more than C$100 million to Prairie farmers at current values, is for at least 500,000 tonnes of malting barley over three years. It will result in guaranteed minimum sales of 150,000 tonnes each year to COFCO, the largest Chinese buyer of Canadian grain.

"As beer consumption continues to increase in China, Canadian malting barley has secured an important position in supplying Chinese brewers with high-quality product," CWB president and CEO Ian White said. "Western Canadian farmers have achieved a significant piece of premium business in a highly competitive and volatile market. The support of Minister Ritz is important to achieving these types of positive outcomes for producers."

The CWB has a long-standing relationship with COFCO, beginning in 1961 when the CWB was among the first foreign traders to conduct business with the new People's Republic of China. This role paved the way for Canada-China diplomatic relations to begin in 1970 and has continued to open doors for other agricultural commodities from Canada.

Agreements were also signed this week ...More Info

EU’s total barley crop is expected to amount to 56.6 mln tonnes in 2010 versus 62.1 mln tonnes harvested last year, Coceral said last week.

The Union’s spring barley production is projected to reach 29.1 mln tonnes versus 31.7 mln tonnes in 2009.

Planting of spring barley has been done in Southern Europe, France, large parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, the U.K. and Ireland, all of Austria and the Balkans. Scandinavia and the Baltic countries must follow, which is normal for the northern part of Europe.

The timing was good in France, Central Europe and the British isles, but late in the Danube valley from Slovakia through the Balkan countries. Weather conditions have been favourable since two weeks, industry sources report.

Winter in Russia and the Ukraine was cold and long, a thick snow cover protected winter grains to a large extent.

There is no report available yet from Russia about winter kill, in the Ukraine latest estimates are that 10 – 15% of the winter acreage must be reseeded, industry observers reported last week.

In the south spring planting is late, therefore the acreage of spring barley may drop from 3.7 to 3.4 mln ha in favour of later spring crops, viz. maize and sunflower. Also in Russia there are vague forecasts of less spring barley plantings, crop forecasts range from 18 to 16 mln tonnes.

In the present crop year the Ukraine exported 5.033 mln tonnes of barley till end March, Russia 1.7 mln tonnes till end January, it is reported.

Garry Menz, Christian Andrighetto, Angiolella Lombardi, Viviana Corich, Peter Aldred and Frank Vriesekoop

J. Inst. Brew. 116(1), 14–22, 2010 ABSTRACT
Lactic acid bacteria are the most frequently encountered beerspoilage bacteria, and they may render beer undrinkable due to the production of lactic acid, diacetyl, and turbidity. Microbrewed beer is typically sold unpasteurised, leaving it more susceptible to spoilage by lactic acid bacteria. In this study, the incidence of lactic acid bacteria in bottled microbrewed beer from Victoria, Australia was investigated. A total of 80 beers from 19 breweries were screened for lactic acid bacteria. Almost 30% contained culturable lactic acid bacteria, and many had lactic acid levels well above the flavour threshold. Ethanol, hops, and the pH levels of the beers were not predictors for spoilage in the beers examined, and contamination appeared to be more closely linked to the source brewery. The 45 lactic acid strains isolated from these beers were identified by RAPD-PCR, with Lactobacillus brevis being the most frequently isolated species. All isolates were capable of spoiling beer and contained putative hop resistance genes. At typical beer levels, pH and ethanol had no effect on the growth of the particular spoilage bacteria isolated in this study. Load full article, 9 pages, 1353kb , PDF file