1. Trading info

At this moment there is an OFFER for 1500 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 500-1500 mtons of malt, 2RS, Average price, crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/4/2003 - 31/5/2003, at EUR 287.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF2103P1000)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Winter barley production in Western Europe. Click here
  
  
• The Portuguese brewer, Unicer, has acquired the beer and soft drinks company, Fabrica de Cervejas e Refrigerantes J. Melo Abreu... Click here
  
  
• Anadolu Efes, the Turkey’s beer and malt producer, has posted a net profit for 2002 of TRL 26 trillion (EUR 14 million)... Click here
  
  
• Russian Property Fund, is planning to put to auction a 25.5% stake in OAO Patra brewery (Yekaterinburg) in April... Click here
  
  
• Colombian brewer Bavaria is to trim its $2 billion debt load, refinance loans, and push forward with an ambitious plan of expansion in Latin America... Click here

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

• The high court of Venezuela has settled that Brahma, the Brazilian brewer, must change the label design of its light beer in Venezuela as ...more info



• Australia's barley trade has avoided the shipping difficulties of other local exports caused by the Iraq war, but only because drought has already ...more info



• Mexico's brewer Femsa, is looking at combining its beer and soft drink operations in various Latin American markets to gain a competitive edge ...more info



• Canada and the northern part of United States remain too dry and still look like crop risk areas in 2003. The CWB has forecast a crop of about 11 Mill. tons for ...more info



• HP Bulmer, the British brewer, is selling GBP 6.1m worth of land at one of its Hereford plants to a housebuilder in order to ease debt ...more info



• Bavaria SA, the Colombian brewer, has postponed its public offer for outstanding common "A" shares in Backus & Johnson, the Peruvian brewer ...more info



• The Argentinean brewer, Quilmes, has renewed its sponsorship agreement with the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino ...more info



• The US Treasury Department has reported that it is seeking public comment on plans to change the tax and regulation structure concerning "malternatives" ...more info




2. Industry news

Winter 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
Belgium	36	286	40	286	37	296	38	307
Germany					20	100	30	180
Denmark	156	880	148	820	160	950
France					1074	6828	1148	7864
Ireland			35	280	21	168
United Kingdom			589	3730	476	2920	430	2580
Total	192	1166	812	5116	1788	11262	1646	10931



The Portuguese brewer, Unicer, has acquired the beer and soft drinks company, Fabrica de Cervejas e Refrigerantes J. Melo Abreu, based in the Azores. The brewer Empresa de Cervejas da Madeira, based on the Madeira Islands, owns J. Melo Abreu. Unicer has in its portfolio the Cristal, Super Bock, Carlsberg, Cool Beer and Tuborg Strong brands. The company has reported a turnover rise from EUR 334.5 million in 2001 to EUR 379 million in 2002.

Anadolu Efes, the Turkey’s beer and malt producer, has posted a net profit for 2002 of TRL 26 trillion (EUR 14 million) versus a net loss of TRL 14 trillion (EUR 8 million) in 2001. The company sad, pre-tax profits reached TRL 45.7 trillion (EUR24.8m), and operating profit rose to TRL 80.7 trillion (EUR 43.9 million) in 2002 against TRL 66.8 trillion (EUR 36.3 million) in 2001. Anadolu Efes registered TRL 443.8 trillion of sales.

Russian Property Fund, is planning to put to auction a 25.5% stake in OAO Patra brewery (Yekaterinburg) in April, according to the newsletter of the Fund. The stake to be auctioned is made of 11,135 thousand common share of RUB1 par value. The baseline stake price is RUB232.42 mln. The bids have been collected starting from 4 March with the deadline on 22 April at noon local time.

Colombian brewer Bavaria is to trim its $2 billion debt load, refinance loans, and push forward with an ambitious plan of expansion in Latin America, Reuters writes. The brewer, which forecast 2003 profits "similar" to the 336 billion pesos ($114 million) in profits in 2002, said it would focus this year on slashing its debt load by $300 million to $1.7 billion. "Our goal is to lower the level of Bavaria's indebtedness," the company's President Ricardo Obregon said in a statement. Obregon added Bavaria aimed to refinance $400 million in debt due in 2003, including a $300 million loan from Santander Investment Bank. The brewer, controlled by Colombian tycoon Julio Mario Santo Domingo, said it would invest $110 million this year -- the bulk of which, about $78 million, to be spent on its operations in Colombia. The rest of the funds would go to Bavaria interests abroad. Bavaria's Peruvian subsidiary, Cervecerias Backus & Johnston, would start making beer in Bolivia for domestic consumption for the first time, Obregon said. Bavaria controls 95% of Colombia's beer market, about 92% of Ecuador's beer market and last year bought 24.5% of Peru's only brewer, Backus & Johnston. It now owns 55% of Backus & Johnston's common stock and is looking to buy more shares in the coming weeks. The brewer increased its profits by 79% last year in local-currency terms.