E-Malt.com Flash 14a. April 04

Poland: Denmark’s second-largest beer maker, The Danish Brewery Group A/S (Bryggerigruppen) announced on April 4 it has entered into an agreement with the significant regional Polish brewery ”Browary Polskie Brok-Strzelec S.A.” to acquire...more info

Japan: Kirin Brewery Co. said on April 6 it launched the so-called "third-category" beer in the fast growing market for the beer-like alcoholic beverage currently dominated by Sapporo Breweries Ltd. and Suntory Ltd., according to Kyodo News. Kirin's move intensifies competition among the third-category drinks, which will be further fueled when Asahi Breweries Ltd. introduces its first third-category beer April 20. Kirin's first third-category beer, the Nodogoshi Nama, is made from soy protein, making it subject to lower liquor taxes in the absence of malt and wheat. A 350-milliliter can of the drink sells for about 120 yen. Kirin Brewery hopes to sell 19.7 million cases of third-category beer this year. One case holds 12.66 liters, or the equivalent of 20 633-milliliter bottles. Major breweries are generally bullish about the prospects of third-category beer sales. Industry sources said the third-category beer market is expected to notch a 3-fold jump from the previous year's level to take about a 15 % share of the entire beer market, which includes regular beer and low-malt beer.

USA: Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc., announced on April 5 that first quarter 2005 domestic beer volume was below previous expectations. “The company has stepped up its new product, packaging and marketing efforts, but it will take time for these new initiatives to gain traction,” said Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick T. Stokes. “Given Anheuser-Busch’s substantial competitive strengths in the U.S. beer market, we are confident the company will successfully restore its volume momentum.” Domestic beer sales-to-wholesalers decreased 2.7 percent for the first quarter 2005 vs. the first quarter 2004 to 24.4 million barrels. Wholesaler inventories at the end of the quarter were about one-and-one-half days higher than at the end of the first quarter last year, representing a reduction of approximately one day versus the differential at the end of last year. Domestic beer wholesaler sales-to-retailers were down 1.0 percent in the first quarter on a comparable selling day basis, due to generally weak industry volume conditions and the comparison with the strong performance of Michelob ULTRA in the prior year. Michelob ULTRA was the most successful new brand introduction in the beer industry in many years, and its sales have stabilized to a 2.4 percent share year-to-date in supermarkets, according to IRI data. BUD family wholesaler sales-to-retailers increased in the quarter, driven by solid growth of Bud Light and the national introduction in late February of Budweiser Select. The company expects first quarter 2005 earnings per share of $.63 to $.64, excluding a one-time gain on the sale of the company’s equity interest in a Spanish theme park, vs. $.66 per share on a comparable normalized basis in the first quarter 2004.1/ This decline reflects the lower beer sales volume of the domestic beer company, coupled with commodity cost pressures and the incremental costs to support the company’s stepped up marketing and sales efforts. Management believes that earnings per share growth in the low-single digit range for the full year 2005 2/ (before stock option expense and one-time items in both years) is a reasonable expectation at this time. As previously announced, the company has decided to defer its adoption of FAS 123R, “Share-Based Payment,” until the required third quarter implementation date in order to fully consider the recent interpretative guidance provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission and pending implementation guidance anticipated from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. will release worldwide beer volume and consolidated earnings results for the first quarter on April 27, 2005. Following the release, the company will conduct a public webcast in which management will discuss these results and the company’s outlook in greater detail. Additional details on the webcast will be provided later this month in a separate press release.

Hong Kong: Yanjing Brewery, the beer unit of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., intends to invest from CNY300 million to CNY500 million to buy stakes in other local breweries, the Hong Kong’s newspaper Wen Wei Po posted on April 6. Citing a Yanjing Brewery senior official, the report says the firm's parent Beijing Enterprises is holding talks with a few breweries in eastern and southern China to buy a 51% controlling stake. The paper says the acquisition targets have annual production of more than 100,000 metric tons of beer. One or two deals are expected to be finalized this year. Beijing Enterprises is the investment arm of Beijing's municipal government.

Hungary, Budapest: The board of directors at brewery Brau Union Hungaria, a Hungarian subsidiary of the Heineken group, recommends that the company set aside the company's HUF 909 million 2004 profit as retained earnings and pay no dividend...more info

Morocco: Dutch brewing force, Heineken N/V has decided to invest in a Muslim beer in Morocco. Free-alcohol beer Fayrouz, brewed in Egypt by Heineken’s subsidiary, Al Ahram Beverages Company (ABC), is to be available this summer...more info

Barley News

EU: The EU malting barley market remained quiet during March tins year, attracting limited buying interest, IGC commented on March 31. Scarlett spring variety fell €2...more info

Ukraine: Barley shipments through Ukrainian ports in March were down to 180KMT against 320KMT in February. The bulk of these deliveries (90KMT) was intended for Saudi Arabia, UkrAgroConsult has recently reported. Also, large parcels were shipped to Tunisia, Syria, and Greece. This year, the leading role among spring grain crops will be played by barley, according to UkrAgroConsult’s analysts. Increased interest in barley grain from both domestic and foreign markets, rather high prices, sufficient amount of seeds, ample soil moisture content in spring are the grounds for expanding seeded areas under this crop. However, seeding spring barley in late March/early April in the South will result in exposing its sprouts to high air temperatures, initial development of plants with overdried soil, their poor rooting, and generation of a small crop. In the Steppe zone, because of the late spring and this year's absence of the "February windows" there is a risk of planting this crop in late terms that will inevitably lead to a grain crop shortage and possible failure of seeding the entire intended acreage, which we forecast at a level of 3750Th ha. In the Northern and Western regions, where spring drought phenomena rarely occur, this crop's yields are far less dependent on its seeding terms.

Theoretical malt prices.

* - 70/30 = 70% Average Two Row Spring and 30% Six Row Winter
** - 50/50 = 50% Average Two Row Spring and 50% Six Row Winter

Theoretical malt prices for crop 2005 are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting barley prices. French barley prices.

Nominal prices.

nq - Not quoted
Prices for Danish and UK malting barley are available on site www.e-malt.com/MarketPrices

Malting Barley Price Evolution

French Malting Barley Price Evolution

Table of the week

Japan Barley, in thousand metric tonnes

	1996/97	1997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05
Production	233	193	144	205	214	217	217	199	240
Imports	1,431	1,435	1,660	1,608	1,498	1,358	1,399	1,400	1,350
Exports	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Feed Use	1,321	1,300	1,500	1,479	1,400	1,350	1,300	1,330	1,300
Total Use	1,621	1,600	1,860	1,819	1,700	1,650	1,600	1,630	1,600

Source: USDA/FAS

Graph of the week

Agenda

April 2005:
Helsinki Beer Festival;
Tour de Geuze 2005. Payottenland, Belgium;
FAB 2005 - BC Food & Beverage Conference. Vancouver, BC;
Grains Week 2005. Queensland, Australia;
Concise Course in Brewing Technology;
World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference 2005;
JOINT LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE. Washington, D.C., USA;
BEER. Exhibition Pavilion Minsk.;
Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America;
Classic City Brewfest, Athens, GA;
SOUTH-UKRAINIAN DAYS OF FOOD AND DRINKS;
SIBFOODEXPO, Siberian Beer. Novosibirsk;
SAMARA DRINKS. SAMARA, RUSSIA;
WINES, BEERS AND DRINKS Exhibition for the Beverage Industry. Krasnoyarsk, Russia;
Malting Course BRi Nutfield United Kingdom;
INTERPAK 2005 Duessledorf, Germany;
Excursion to West-Flanders;

May 2005:
TwinTrack Brewing Microbiology Program. The Siebel Institute;
HOFEX 2005. 11th Asian International Exhibition of Food & Drink. Hong Kong;
30th Congress of the European Brewery Convention;
Pivo-2005. Beer International Brewing Technology Exhibition. Sochi, Russia.;
Export Credit Guarantee Programs Seminar. USDA;
California Festival of Beers;

June 2005:
World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference 2005, Germany;
ASBC Annual Convention. American Society of Brewing Chemists Meeting.;
IGC GRAINS CONFERENCE 2005;
BRASIL BRAU International Fair of Beverage Technology;
FOOD TAIPEI 2005. The largest food and beverage show in Taiwan;
BevTek / BrewTek International Exhibition of Beverage and Brewery Processing and Packaging Technology. Bangkok, Thailand ;

More events are available on site e-malt.com