Philippines’ San Miguel Corporation (SMC) said on May, 17 its domestic beer operations, San Miguel Brewery, delivered sales volumes of 43.8 million cases in the first quarter of this year, 2% higher than in the previous year.

With higher selling prices, the division’s sales revenue reached P13.4 billion, up 7% from 2009 levels.

With stable raw material prices, SMB’s operating income grew 20% to P4.65 billion. Net income ended at P2.75 billion, a 3% improvement from the previous year.

In SMB’s overseas markets, volumes were strongest in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, and its Exports business resulting in sales revenues of US$ 59.7 million, 5% higher than the previous year. The company’s mainland China operations continue to face stiff competition.

SMC president Ramon Ang said the group will keep its 51 percent stake in flagship San Miguel Brewery and sell anything in excess to Japanese partner Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd, which currently owns 48.39 percent of SMB.

SMB is expected to post a double-digit growth in net income this year as it benefits from improved bottling efficiency, acquisition of additional hard liquor business and a potential boom in demand from Visayas and Mindanao, Ang said.

The beer giant currently corners 96 percent of Philippines' ...More Info

Russia’s January – April beer output declined versus the same period last year by 14.8% to 25.6 mln hl, Rosstat reported on May, 18.

In April, the nation’s beer production dropped by 3.7% yoy.

In 2009, Russia’s beer production fell by 4.8%.

Japan’s shipments of beer and beer-like beverages fell 3.2% on the year to 39.26 million cases in April, down for the fourth straight month, Nikkei reported on May, 17.

Shipments were dented by unseasonably cold weather last month, and by a frugal consumer trend amid the lingering economic downturn.

Shipments of beer and low-malt beer sank, down 4.4% and 17%, respectively. Those of the least-expensive, no-malt beer, dubbed "third beer," climbed 8.9%.

Japan's top four players, - Kirin Holdings Co. unit Kirin Brewery Co., Asahi Breweries Ltd., Suntory Liquors Ltd., and Sapporo Holdings Ltd. unit Sapporo Breweries Ltd. - all saw their shipments decline year on year last month.

Sales pitches will intensify among these companies toward summer, while consumer preferences are polarizing over cheap offerings and premium beer.

One case of beer contains the equivalent of 20 633ml bottles.

Carlsberg Bulgaria currently ranks second on the Bulgarian beer market, after Zagorka AD, and ahead of Kamenitza AD, CEO Aleksander Grancharov was quoted as saying by Novinite on May, 17.

Carlsberg Bulgaria with two breweries, in the cities of Shumen and Blagevgrad, now has 30% of beer market in the country. The 3 companies together have a 91% share of the market.

In the first quarter of 2010, the leading brand of Carlsberg Bulgaria – Shumensko had reached a 19% market share while the other brands, particularly Tuborg and Pirinsko, have also increased their sales.

Carlsberg Bulgaria is one of the top investors in the Shumen Region and in Bulgaria. In 2009 the company invested BGN22 mln in the Shumen and the Blagoevgrad breweries and plans to invest another BGN15 mln in 2010 of which BGN5 mln will be in Shumen, rounding up the total investments there since 2004 to BGN75 mln.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has warned that an increase in VAT to 20pc would cost UK beer drinkers £300 mln a year, The Telegraph reported on May, 16.

The association, whose members account for 98pc of beer brewed in the UK and own more than half of Britain's 54,000 pubs, believes that the increased cost of a pint could have a damaging impact on trade. It is so concerned about the effects that a VAT rise would have that it is planning to ask the Government for a compensatory reduction in beer duty.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, is widely expected to increase VAT from 17.5pc to 20pc as part of the Government's plan to cut the UK's deficit.

A BBPA spokesman said a reduction in beer duty would help the struggling pubs sector. Last month the BBPA said pubs were closing at a rate of 40 a week across the UK. The pub sector was a hot topic in the election, with 320 Parliamentary candidates signing a pledge to "Back the Pub", calling on government, industry, local authorities and others to work together to support pubs as part of efforts to enhance community life and promote economic recovery. Some 87pc ...More Info

According to a recent industry analysis, here is no indication of better malt markets yet. The change of beer recipes has left a strong mark on the malt demand, and the return to better beer sales is just at the beginning.

Malt prices do not or hardly reflect the higher cost of malting barley, industry observers communicate.

Carlsberg and InBev acquired large quantities of malt for their European and overseas breweries, and they managed to purchase at very attractive prices.

The malt market is split between aggressive and price-conscious sellers; during the month of April it ranged from Euro 250,- and 325,- in domestic and (FOB in bulk in container) export markets.

The cheapest quotations seem to have disappeared, it is reported.

Not only maltsters, but also the large brewers approach the malt market in different ways, SABMiller and Heineken stick to their policies of secure supplies. Many brewers have adopted the system of covering their malt demand successively during the year in order to spread the price risk.

The estimate of the world barley acreage in the latest IGC report is 2% down from last year’s, at 54.7 mln ha, whereas the production is expected to total 141.9 mln tonnes, 6 mln tonnes lower than last year.

However, many industry observers find the IGC’s estimates excessively optimistic.

A private (Toepfer) estimate puts the EU barley crop alone 6.6 mln tonnes lower than in 2009, and all other regions in the Northern Hemisphere expect smaller crops as well.

World trade in 2009/10 will be around 16.5 mln tonnes of barley, 3 mln tonnes less than a year before.

Good crops in North Africa and the Middle East have cut demand of feed barley. Turkey sold 800,000 tons for export, and even Algeria opened an export tender to reduce its surplus stocks.

After last year’s harvest the EU malting barley S/D balance looked so heavy that price levels deteriorated below the intervention price and only a few euros above feed barley levels, industry analysts communicated in a note earlier this month.

The surplus of 3-4 million tons could not be marketed anywhere. Maltsters covered good carry-over quantities, which seemed to last till Dec/Jan 2010/11 and cut new crop demand by several months. By now the picture has changed.

Farmers and first hand sold large quantities of winter and spring malting barley to the feed sector and intervention.

Export business developed slowly, but strongly. It is estimated that by the end of the crop year 1 million tons of EU malting barley will have been sold to China, Latin America and the Mediterranean countries.

It looks like a permanent further demand from China and Mercosur after the crop failure in Argentina and a poor quality crop in Australia.

There was a very important weakness in the EU malting barley surplus: low protein. Shippers fail to find sufficient barley for export with a minimum protein of 9.5%, unsold stocks show proteins down to 8.5%, in France, the U.K. and Denmark.

Farmers are aware of this ...More Info

A professional association estimates China’s barley production of 2009 at 2.13 mln tonnes, of which 980,000 tonnes of winter and 1.150 mln tonnes of spring barley, an analysts’ note communicated late in April.

Only 1.35 mln tonnes qualify for malting so that China needs to import 2.0 mln tonnes of crop 2009/10, experts believe. Estimated purchases to-date are 500,000 tonnes of Australian malting, 400,000 tonnes of Australian barley, 500,000 tonnes from Canada and 600,000 tonnes from France.

The new crop acreage is estimated to reach only 5 mln mu (333,000 ha) vs. 9.3 mln mu last year.

The acreage of winter barley, mainly grown in the province of Jiangsu, is down by 20%, locals hope for a crop of 600 vs. 680,000 tonnes last year.

In the spring barley regions of Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia barley crops may be lower by 30 to 50%. Therefore China will have to import large quantities again in 2010/11.

Cofco concluded a three years agreement with the Canadian Wheat Board for the purchase of 500,000 tons of malting barley.

Apart from some brewers and export maltsters, China is a price buyer. Firm barley prices usually shift part of the demand to other grains and adjuncts. China ...More Info

Markus Herrmann, Björn Klotzbücher, Michael Wurzbacher, Stefan Hanke, Udo Kattein, Werner Back, Thomas Becker and Martin Krottenthaler

J. Inst. Brew. 116(1), 41–48, 2010
ABSTRACT
During the last years changes in aging indicators have been observed, supposedly resulting from modern brewing technology. The Research Brewery Weihenstephan (Forschungsbrauerei Weihenstephan) offers excellent opportunities for comparing different modern wort boiling systems under semi-industrial conditions. Employing three different boiling systems, nine brews were produced. The resulting worts were compared regarding the most common wort parameters. Furthermore the influence of the different boiling systems on aging indicators in the resulting beers was analyzed using a newly developed mass spectrometry-based method. The decrease in the total amount of aging indicators in industrial beers over the last years is very likely the result of lower thermal intake in modern brewhouse equipment. The total amount of aging indicators is sufficient to describe the differences in modern boiling systems. In summary, 2-furfural dominates all other indicators in terms of thermal influence. 2-Furfuryl ethyl ether can be suggested as good indicator of aging as postulated by Eichhorn, whereas â-damascenone is questionable as an aging indicator. Supplementary experiments were carried out to investigate the role of the aging indicators as stale flavour components. Because of synergistic effects, many stale flavour compounds act as aroma compounds and not only as indicators. Key words: Aging indicators, beer flavour, boiling systems, brewhouse, synergistic effects, wort. Load full article, 8 pages, 482 kb , PDF file