1. Trading info

At this moment there are two OFFERS for 2500 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 100-1000 mtons of malt, 6RW, Esterel(100%), crop 2002, Bags in container, delivery 1/6/2003 - 30/9/2003, at EUR 302 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1303P2123)
  
  
• Offer for 1500 mtons of malt, 2RS, Scarlet(100%), crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/4/2003 - 31/5/2003, at EUR 295.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1303P2129)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Spring barley production in Western Europe. Click here
  
  
• The Irish spend the most money on beer in the world per person, according to a new survey of the analyst company, Datamonitor... Click here
  
  
• Japanese brewing force, Asahi Breweries, is to build a new brewery in Beijing, through its Chinese joint venture... Click here
  
  
• Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer, is to invest over US$300 million in its operations this yearr... Click here
  
  
• Turkish holding Anadolu Efes announced the signing of the agreement to buy Amstar brewery (Ufa, Ural region, Russia)... Click here

More news is available on site www.e-malt.com  

• Beer production has become an important part of the Mexican economy, as it now accounts for the largest export income in the food and drink sector ...more info



• The Belgian brewery group, Duvel Moortgat, has reported a consolidated turnover rise of 10.5% from EUR 52.5m to EUR 58.1 million ...more info



• The drinks company, Oyj Hartwall, based in Finland, has appointed Mika Seitovirta as its new CEO, effective on June 1, 2003 ...more info



• Danes’ beer consumption decreased by 1.2% in 2002 compared to 2001, Danish tax authorities reported on March 17, 2003 ...more info



• Representatives of two of the largest malting companies of the world gave a very pessimistic outlook on malt business in the years to come ...more info



• A Dutch court reported that Heineken had won the case brought against the Dutch brewer by First Federation, its former Russian distributor ...more info



• Asahi Breweries, the Japanese brewing giant, has reported its intention to increase retail prices of happoshu low-malt beer from May 1, 2003 ...more info



• In Russia 324 big and medium enterprises of different patterns of ownership and over 500, if including the microbreweries, produce beer ...more info




2. Industry news



Spring barley production in Western Europe

	1999		2000		2001		2002
	ths ha	ths tons	ths ha	ths tons	ths ha	ths tons	ths ha	ths tons
Austria	130	585	130	455
Belgium	17	101	8	47	15	72	7	35
Germany	770	3700	620	2900	637	2870	611	2668
Denmark	562	2750	598	3160	628	3400	690	3243
Spain	2046	4217	2489	8850	2100	4000
Finland	581	1568	559	1985	547	1786	522	1786
France	480	2800	475	2436	583	2900	490	2937
Ireland	165	1200	170	1088	159	1113
Italy	20	80	20	70	22	75
Netherlands	57	385	42	285	60	350	54	328
Sweden	482	1783	407	1698	395	1600	425	1743
United Kingdom	630	3270	538	2772	700	3500	520	2573
Total	5940	22439	6056	25746	5846	21666	3319	15313



The Irish spend the most money on beer in the world per person, according to a new survey of the analyst company, Datamonitor. Last year, each Irishman spent EUR 1.199 thousand on beer, about three euros per day, while each Norwegian spent the equivalent of EUR 614 per person, and the British came in third at EUR 502 per person. The Norwegian figure, however, has to do with the fact that Norway's beer was the most expensive in the world at almost 5.20 EUR per pint, with Malaysia and Japan coming in second and third. So have the Irish and British figures, because counting in pints, it turns out that the Czechs drank the most beer (326 pints per person and year), while Irish drinkers only put down 300 pints per person and year. Germany, Austria, and Belgium were the other three to beat the British at consuming what is largely considered to be one of the two British national beverages. Hardly surprising, the United States is the world's biggest market for beer counted in money, with sales at USD 46.8bn last year.

Japanese brewing force, Asahi Breweries, is to build a new brewery in Beijing, through its Chinese joint venture, Beijing Beer Asahi. The decision was taken due to a forecasted rise in consumption with the start of the 2008 Olympic games. The plant will start operations from the spring of 2004. Asahi will invest about ¥5 billion in the deal and the plant is supposed to produce about 100 million litres of beer per year. Beijing Beer Asahi - jointly owned by Asahi, trading house Itochu Corp and a Chinese partner - will launch the new brewery to replace an existing facility operating in the city. Asahi currently operates five beer plants through joint ventures in China, which produced a total of 510 million litres last year.

Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer, is to invest over US$300 million in its operations this year, according to the company's capital expenditure in 2002. "We're moving forward with investment plans, maybe with a little bit more care," Carlos Fernandez, Chief Executive said in a statement. "At the end of the day, you have to live the moment. And we have been through many phases." Grupo Modelo, posted an 11.8% drop in fourth-quarter net profit to MXN815 million, in February, below market forecasts. However, the company said a fall in domestic sales had been offset by a stronger export performance.

Turkish holding Anadolu Efes announced the signing of the agreement to buy Amstar brewery (Ufa, Ural region, Russia), the producer of Sokol beer brand. It is thought that Anadolu Efes will purchase Amstar in April. The agreement is a preliminary one for the cash-and-share swap deal, which is thought to be worth at least US$50m. Efes is planning to acquire 100% of Amstar, including a minority stake held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The acquisition will add around 1.2m hls to Efes' brewing capacity in Russia. Last year Amstar produced about 70 million litres of beer and now it holds 0.8% of Russian beer market. Dutch company Amsterdam Brewery Investment owns the control packet of shares of Amstar brewery. Amstar was built for years ago.