World’s No. 1 brewer AB InBev said on May, 5 its total 1Q10 beer volumes increased 0.6% to 80.3 mln hl, with own beer volumes up 0.7%, driven by a strong performance in Brazil, China and Canada.

Focus Brand volumes grew 2.1% led by Skol, Brahma and Antarctica in Brazil, Budweiser and the Bud Light family in Canada, and Harbin in China.

The company said it gained market share in markets representing almost half of its total beer volumes in the first quarter of this year.

Revenue rose 1.9% to $8.38 bln, or 1.1% per hl, with continued focus on premium brands and improved pricing to offset cost pressures. On a constant geographic basis, i.e. eliminating the impact of stronger volume growth coming from countries with lower revenue per hl, growth in revenue per hl would have been 2.5%.

Cost of Sales (CoS): CoS decreased 1.3%, or 2.5% per hl, as favorable Zone mix and production efficiencies more than compensated for higher raw material costs in Latin America North and an inflationary environment in Latin America South and Central and Eastern Europe. On a constant geographic basis, Cost of Sales per hl would have increased by an estimated 0.5%, the Belgian brewing giant ...More Info

Molson Coors Brewing Company, one of North America’s leading brewers, reported on May, 4 higher net income due to the favorable settlement of Brazil indemnity liabilities related to discontinued operations.

Underlying after-tax income for the first quarter decreased, however, driven by lower volume, higher marketing, general and administrative expense and a higher effective tax rate this year, the company said.

Net income attributable to Molson Coors increased 38.2 percent to $104.6 million for the first quarter, up from $75.7 million a year ago. Underlying after-tax income decreased 29.5 percent in the first quarter to $69.7 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, down from $98.8 million, or $0.53 per diluted share. The company estimates that its full-year 2010 effective tax rate will be in the range of 18 percent to 22 percent on an underlying basis.

Molson Coors Brewing Company’s total worldwide beer volume was 10.1 million hectolitres in the quarter, down 3.8 percent, driven by industry weakness in the U.S.* and the company’s continued strategy in the U.K. to forgo low-margin volume.

Canada Business

Canada underlying pretax income in local currency declined 14 percent. In U.S. dollars, Canada underlying earnings decreased 3.3 percent to $56.2 million in the first quarter, which reflects the approximate ...More Info

AB InBev’s Brazilian division – Companhia de Bebidas das Américas, or AmBev – announced on May, 5 its results for the first quarter of 2010.

The brewer’s net sales grew 16.5% to 6,121.4 mln reais driven by volume growth as well as price increases across its regions, which drove Net Revenue/hl growth of 6.8% in the period.

Consolidated beer volume increased organically by 9% to 40.92 mln hl in the first quarter, AmBev said.

Organic beer sales volume growth of 11.6% in the period (to 29,399.3 mln reais) was driven by a 14.1% volume growth in Brazil, 7.4% of volume growth in HILA-Ex (Hispanic Latin America Operations, Excluding Latin America South) and 2.3% of domestic volume growth in Canada, which was partly offset by volume contraction of 3.5% in Latin America South.

COGS/hl (Cost of Goods Sold) increased by 5.3% due to higher currency and sugar hedges as well as packaging costs, which were partly offset in the quarter by gains in aluminium and barley hedges, lower corn prices and productivity initiatives. Selling, General & Administrative (SG&A) expenses (excl. depreciation & amortization) increased organically by 19.1% driven by volume growth, inflation, higher logistic costs and investments in the market to support the brewer’s ...More Info

Dutch brewer Heineken N.V. announced on April, 30 that it has completed the acquisition of the beer businesses of Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V., following approval from all relevant anti-trust authorities and shareholders of Heineken N.V., Heineken Holding N.V. and FEMSA.

Heineken said it will now execute the integration strategy it has developed over the past two months in collaboration with the local management teams. The new management teams in Mexico and Brazil have been announced. The newly acquired businesses will form part of the Heineken Americas region under John Nicolson, Heineken Americas’ Regional President.

Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Heineken N.V. commented: “Today represents the start of a new era for Heineken. I am delighted to welcome a group of highly talented and ambitious people into the Heineken group and FEMSA as a major shareholder. Their contribution to the future development and continued growth of our business will be significant and we look forward to building our future together”.

Heineken N.V. will consolidate the new businesses into its accounts from 1 May 2010.

Molson Coors Brewing Company announced on May, 4 that it has signed an agreement to buy a 51 percent controlling interest in a new joint venture with the Hebei Si’hai Beer Company of China for a total cash investment of approximately $40 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will have direct control over the Si’hai brewing operations, including its contract brewing business, and provide opportunities to expand the sales and distribution of a portfolio of emerging brands led by Coors Light and regional Si’hai beers.

Since entering the Chinese market in 2003 with Coors Light, Molson Coors has enjoyed a rapidly growing business with its leading international brand, which is now available in more than 40 cities across China. Coors Light is currently the third-largest super premium brand sold in high end bars and night clubs throughout the country and has grown an average of approximately 30 percent each year. The joint venture, to be named Molson Coors Si’hai Brewing Company, will provide Molson Coors a platform to further expand its distribution channels throughout China and give the company greater control over brewing, increased cost efficiency, and more flexibility on packaging and brand innovation in order to ...More Info

The world hop harvest of 2009 is estimated at about 111.5 thousand metric tonnes, German Hop Industry Association communicated last month.

Last year’s harvest is thus only about 1,500 metric tonnes below the record harvest of 2008.

According to the Association, if not for the heavy hail storm that destroyed about 5 thousand tonnes of hops in Germany, last year’s global hops output would have exceeded that of 2008, despite a slight decline in the area planted to hops (- 300 ha).

The world alpha production of an estimated 11,200 metric tonnes exceeds that of 2008 by approximatively 400 metric tonnes, German Hop Industry Association said.

Europe accounts for 4850 metric tonnes of alpha acid (43.3%), the U.S. for 5150 metric tonnes (45.3%) and China for 950 metric tonnes (8.4%). From the amount of alpha produced in Europe, 3500 metric tons are accounted for by Germany alone, the Association estimates.

The brewing industry’s demand for alpha is expected to reach at most 8500 metric tonnes in the brewing year 2010, thus a surplus of 2700 metric tonnes of alpha of the crop 2009 will remain unclaimed.

The 200 metric tonnes of alpha used for non-brewing purposes are, at best, a cosmetic improvement, the Association said.

The German ...More Info

A. VAN LANDSCHOOT, N. VANBENEDEN, D. VANDERPUTTEN AND K. PIENS

ABSTRACT In 16 case studies the traditional infusion mashing method was compared with isothermal mashing at 60-65°C combined with short mashing at half of the normal mashing time. Also, the effect of mash pH adjustment (5.4-5.6) and application of exogenous enzymes (proteases, glucanases, amylases, and amyloglucosidases) was studied. The results indicated that isothermal short mashing is a potential economic mashing process. Adjustment of the mash pH had a positive effect on the mashing performance. The use of exogenous enzymes in infusion mashings gave an increase in the amino acid concentration but this is not essential for the later fermentation process since basic wort free amino nitrogen (FAN) levels are already high enough.
Cerevisia, 34(3) 2009 http://www.cerevisia.eu