1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there is one OFFER for 2500 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1-2500 mtons of malt, 2RS Scarlet/ Aspen 50/50, crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/5/2003 - 31/7/2003, at EUR 284.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1104P1134)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Heineken and Diageo announced on April 15 that they have agreed to acquire Interbrew's current shareholding of 44% in Namibian Breweries Limited ... Click here
  
  
• Beer output in Austria rose by 1.5% in 2002 to 830 million litres, the Austrian Union of Breweries reported in a statement ... Click here
  
  
• Turkish company Efes Beverage Group announced on April 15, 2003 that it is to invest about US$ 150 million in Russian beer production ... Click here
  
  
• Russian brewer, OAO Patra, based in Ekaterinburg city, said that five of the country's leading brewers are interested to acquire 25.5% of the company’s shares ... Click here
  
  
• Besides the lack of the high-quality barley, Ukrainian brewers experience shortage of malt-producing capacities ... Click here
  
  
• Farmers will not be happy at all, if prices fall back from top to normal levels in the crop year 2003/2004. However, maltsters should ... Click here
  
  
• Major malting barley importers. Click here
  
  
• Canada is a major player in the world barley market. It is among the top three exporters of both feed and malting barley in the world ... Click here
  
  
• Mild temperatures and dry conditions during the month of March have favoured the spring sowings in Western Europe ... Click here
  
  
• Good rains arrived late February in Australia to give the country a respite from the long drought ... Click here
  
  

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

• An African version of Guinness will be soon introduced in Ireland, media reported. The Nigerian brewery Ikeja has been brewing its own version ...more info



• Beer production in Czech Republic increased by 1.7% to 18.177 million hl in 2002 versus beer output of 2001, the Czech Union of Spirits Producers reported ...more info



• The British brewing group, Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), is to acquire full control of the Portuguese beer company, Central de Cervejas, in which it already owns 49% participation ...more info



• Carlsberg Breweries A/S has appointed new management boards for both its breweries in Bulgaria - Shumensko Pivo and Pirinsko Pivo that were acquired in 2002 ...more info



• The leading Chinese brewing group, Tsingtao, has been upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by the investment bank, UBS Warburg ...more info



• Lithuanian breweries Kalnapilis and Vilniaus tauras, which became the property of The Danish Brewery Group, are finishing the merging into a single company ...more info



• Guangdong Brewery, the Hong Kong-listed Chinese beer maker, has registered a net profit of HK$78.0m, in comparison with HK$32.43m net profit recorded in 2001 ...more info



• Ukrainian brewers produced about 112 million litres of beer in March 2003, 33% up compared to February 2003 (84 million litres) and 7% up versus March 2002 ...more info



• Carlton and United Breweries (CUB), the Australian beer, leisure and spirits division of Foster's Group (Foster's), announced on April 14, 2003 that it expects to realize annual gross efficiency ...more info




2. Brewery News

Heineken and Diageo announced on April 15 that they have agreed to acquire Interbrew's current shareholding (held through Brauerei Beck's) of 44% in Namibian Breweries Limited (NBL Investment Holdings Limited). The stake will be sold for a consideration of EUR 31 million, the Belgian brewer Interbrew reported. This company holds a 50.1% stake in Namibia Breweries Limited. In addition, Heineken and Diageo acquired a direct stake of 6.8% in Namibia Breweries. As a result, Heineken and Diageo now have an effective 28.9% stake in Namibia Breweries. This stake will be held by a 50/50 joint venture of Heineken and Diageo. For Heineken, the total amount of the transaction is EUR 15.5 million, Heineken reported...more info

Beer output in Austria rose by 1.5% in 2002 to 830 million litres, the Austrian Union of Breweries reported in a statement. Beer consumption per capita increased to 109 litres in 2002 versus 107 litres in 2001, according to Johann Sulzberger, the chairman of the Union. The country's leading brewer, Brau-Beteiligungs-AG (BBAG), produced about 480 million litres in 2002, which constitutes 57% of the Austria's total output. The introduction of road tolling in Austria, planned for 2004, would increase beer production costs by 20-25%, the Union said.

Turkish company Efes Beverage Group announced on April 15, 2003 that it is to invest about US$ 150 million in Russian beer production. The company has already invested US$ 150 million in Russia. Efes registered a turnover of US$ 195 million in Russia. According to Muhtar Kent, the company’s CEO, the main part of the investment will be spent on marketing, production capacity rise and infrastructure development. In addition to its Moscow plant, Efes will open a brewery in Rostov-on-Don by May 2003. Meanwhile the company is finishing the deal about buying the Ufa-based brewery OAO Amstar, which controls 1.5% of Russian beer market. At the beginning of the year Efes acquired a brewery in Moldova. In May, 2003 the company is to open its second brewery in Kazakhstan, for which it was spent US$22 million. Mr. Kent said the company’s purpose is to increase the production capacity to 800 million litres...more info

Russian brewer, OAO Patra, based in Ekaterinburg city, said that five of the country's leading brewers are interested to acquire 25.5% of the company’s shares, according to Russian media. The auction on selling the government shares is to be held on April 25, 2003. The five bidders are the country's leading brewer, Baltika, part of the Baltic Beverage Holding (BBH) joint venture between Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle (S&N); Sun Interbrew, part of the Belgian brewing combine, Interbrew; Heineken Brewery; Ochakovo and Krazny Vostok. Meanwhile, Sun Interbrew already has a minority interest in Patra. 11,135 thousand of common shares of Patra, with nominal value of RUB 1 per share, will be offered for sale. Bids for the Urals-based brewer must be received by 22 April...more info

3. Malt News

Besides the lack of the high-quality barley, Ukrainian brewers experience shortage of malt-producing capacities. Although malt output in 2002 grew by 13,5 % and amounted to 173,301ths ton, it was still not enough to satisfy domestic brewing industry. With the beer output of 150mln dl, estimated demand for malt makes up 260ths ton. Deficit of high-quality malt is covered with import, which fell by almost 11 percent in 2002 and amounted to 44,219ths ton. To ensure self-sufficiency, major beer producers expand their own malt production. Each major player has malt-producing capacities. They have either separated malt-houses or malt-producing units within the breweries. Sarmat and BBH (which owns malt-house “Slavutsky”, the largest malt-house in Ukraine with planned production capacity of 80ths ton per year) satisfy their demand for malt to the full extent by their own malt production. The surplus of malt they sell to Obolon and Sun-Interbrew whose own malt output satisfy their needs only by 60-70 per cent. To reduce the malt deficit, Sun-Interbrew is constructing new malt-house with planned production capacity of 30 000 ton per year.

Farmers will not be happy at all, if prices fall back from top to normal levels in the crop year 2003/2004. However, maltsters should really appreciate lower barley and malt prices after the experiences of the present campaign. After all, malting barley is not a grain in itself, but only the highest class of the barley qualities. When malting barley premiums were US $ 60,- / 70,- per ton above feed barley prices instead of the usual US $ 25,- / 35,-, markets like Russia and China purchased much more low-class (feed type) barley than normal, and especially from their own crops. We do not know how much more adjuncts – maize, barley, rice, sugar – were used for brewing, but that percentage must have gone up as well. Obviously maltsters all over the world must be interested to correct such developments as much as possible.

4. Barley News

Major malting barley importers.

In thousand tons.

Country	2002-03	2003-04
China	1,800	2,300
USA	400	500
South Africa	200	185
Colombia	200	200
Brazil	225	175
Russia	125	150
Poland	70	90
Other	680	800
Total	3,700	4,400



Peter Watts.
Market Analyst, Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, CWB, Winnipeg, Canada.

Source: Conference GrainWorld 2003presentations.

Canada is a major player in the world barley market. It is among the top three exporters of both feed and malting barley in the world. At times, total exports from the European Union, Canada and Australia have been in excess of 78% of total world barley exports. Canada and Australia together have had more than 50% market share of barley exports. For malting barley, Canada's export market share has been as high as 40%. From a market perspective, the Canadian domestic market for feed barley has been the largest component of total Canadian barley consumption. Export Enhancement Program (EEP) subsidies and restitution payments have been central to the export of U.S. and E.U. barley, respectively. The European Union halted restitution payments in May 1995, but these were reintroduced in September 1996. For barley, these subsidies commonly exceeded US $60/mt. The United States has not subsidized barley exports since July 1995. However, the 1996 Farm Bill authorized EEP funding of US $350 million in fiscal 1996, $250 million in 1997, $500 million in 1998, $550 million in 1999, $579 million in 2000, and $478 million in 2001 and 2002.

Mild temperatures and dry conditions during the month of March have favoured the spring sowings in Western Europe. Beside Scandinavia, most of the spring barley is now planted. The total acreage increased with 140 thousand ha compared with last year acreage, especially because of the frost-related damage suffered by the winter plantings.

Good rains arrived late February in Australia to give the country a respite from the long drought. However, dryness returned, and there is concern that conditions are not fully normal yet. There were some local rains along the coast West and East during the last weekend of March. A barley crop of 6 million tons is expected. Barley pool return outlooks for new crop malting barley have been published at A$ 220,-/230,- (US $ 132,-/138,-) for South Australia / Victoria by the ABB and at A $ 205,-/225,- (US $ 123,-/135,-) for Victoria / New South Wales by Market Link. Planting takes ideally place in April / May. ABB Grain supplied 280.000 tons of barley to the East Coast, which had the largest deficit of feed grains after the disastrous crop of 2002/2003 (3,268 Mill. tons). This reduced the South Australian export surplus accordingly. It is estimated that Grain Australia (ABB-GPWA) has reserve stocks for it’s LTA’s with Japan and a free export surplus of 150-200.000 tons of malting barley, mainly intended for China. Prices are quoted around US $ 240,- CIF China, business has been dull in recent months.