E-Malt.com Flash 14b. April 07

Russia: JSC Baltika Brewery announced on April 7 it has completed the deal on purchase of Pikra Brewery shares under which 16.38% of Pikra ordinary shares were acquired...more info

Chile: Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (CCU) reported on April 6 preliminary first quarter 2005 consolidated volumes. In the First Quarter CCU sold 2,796,720 hl of beverages in Chile of which 1,267,623 hl of beer...more info

Romania: Following its recent re-launch in the UK, SABMiller announced on April 7 that it has introduced its international premium lager, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, to the Romanian market...more info

China: China Resources Enterprise, Limited announced on April 8 its annual results for the year ended 31 December, 2004. Consolidated turnover reached a record HK$47.1 billion and profit attributable to shareholders was HK$1.603 billion, representing an increase of 36% and 10% respectively from last year. Earnings per share rose by 9% to HK76.2¢. The Board of Directors recommended a final dividend of HK16¢ per share. Together with the interim dividend of HK11¢ per share, the full year cash dividend will be HK27¢ per share, a 13% increase from 2003 with payout ratio reaching 36%. Most of the Group’s businesses showed encouraging operational improvements. In particular, the retail business turned around and contributed HK$83 million earnings, compared with a loss of HK$99 million last year. All the three retail operations, including supermarket, retail stores in Hong Kong and brand fashion distribution, improved and were profitable. The supermarket operation contributed HK$24 million earnings, in sharp contrast to the HK$107 million loss of last year, and EBITDA amounted to HK$402 million, up 3.1 times. Enhanced supplier rebate, lower operational expenses, higher profit contributions from Suguo and Hong Kong operations all accounted for the successful turnaround of the supermarket operation. The Group’s beverage business saw a respectable profit growth of 15% to HK$113 million, which was attributable to strong sales volume growth, especially from the premium beer segment, and the initial contributions from the newly acquired Qianjiang and Longjin breweries. Beer sales volume increased by 24% to 3.13 million kilolitres, of which organic growth was 11%. Average selling price increased by 3.4% and gross margin was relatively stable despite the increase in raw material costs. The food processing and distribution business reported a 17% increase in earnings. Enhanced awareness in food hygiene and active promotion of ‘Ng Fung’ fresh meat led to a 17% turnover growth of food stuff distribution and a 3% increase in operating profit. The abattoir operation continued to register profit growth with higher sales volume of livestock. China Resources Enterprise, Limited is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is also traded on SEAQ International of the London Stock Exchange. It is also one of the constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and Hang Seng London Reference Index. The Group has a well-diversified portfolio of businesses in both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, with principal activities being retail, beverage, food processing and distribution, textile and petroleum distribution.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia's Serb Republic announced on April 8 it has offered for sale a 53.81% state-owned stake in Banjalucka Pivara, the largest local brewery, South East Europe Newswire (SeeNews) posted. “We invite strategic investors to participate in an international tender with no starting price for the sale of 25,662,800 shares, or 53.81%, of Banjalucka Pivara,” Vladimir Mackic, the director of the Serb Republic Directorate for Privatisation commented. InBev, Carlsberg, Efes Beverage Group and Lasko Brewery are interested in the bid, according to Mackic.

Ghana: Shares in Ghana Breweries Limited would cease to be traded on the Ghana Stock Exchange as from Monday, April 25, 2005, following the granting of GBL's de-listing request, GhanaHomePage posted on April 8. This means that GBL shares would for the last time be traded on the GSE on Friday April 22, 2005. The Listing Committee of the Exchange's Council accepted the Company's demand to be taken off the Ghana Stock Exchange Official List under its regulation to de-list a security whose public distribution has been so reduced as to make further trading in it inappropriate. A statement from the Ghana Stock Exchange on Friday informed the investing public that Guinness Ghana Brewery Limited (GGBL), the majority shareholder of GBL, was prepared in line with its offer document to acquire the shares from shareholders willing to sell for cash at 1,600 cedis per share. Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) and Ghana Breweries Limited entered into merger discussions in December 2003, culminating in an offer being made by GGL for all 334.2 million issued ordinary shares of GBL. The offer was made at 1,600 cedis for each GBL share with a share alternative of 0.134 new Guinness share for every GBL share. The take-over was completed in November 2004 during which a total of 839 shareholders holding 99.58 per cent of the total issued shares of GBL had tendered. GBL shares tendered for cash were 71.26 million and those for new GGL shares were 261.55 million. Payment of cheques and issue of new GGL shares under the offer were effected in December 2004 and new Guinness shares issued also commenced trading in December 2004. Consequently, shareholders of GBL unanimously passed an ordinary resolution at their Annual General Meeting in February to de-list from the Stock Exchange.Source: GNA

Malt News

EU: Domestic malt sales have commenced for the barley crop of 2005, malt delivery in 2006, reported prices were EUR 240...more info

Barley News

Canada: The Canadian Wheat Board expects that only about 2.0 million tonnes of barley will be selected for malting in 2004-05, compared to a normal 2.5 million tonnes. As total Western Canada barley production rose by 0.9 million tonnes in 2004-05, this implies additional feed barley supplies of 1.4 million tonnes. Western Canada produces between 10-13 Mt tonnes of barley annually. In general about 15-20 percent of the barley produced is selected for malting purposes with the remainder used for feed. But today, US corn, CPS wheat and low quality CWRS wheat can compete with western barley. In addition the threat of Fusarium Head Blight has turned some Canadian producers away from wheat and barley. This is of particular concern in eastern Manitoba, where strong feed demand from the hog industry has resulted in imports of wheat and barley from further west, and corn from the US. Most feed barley supply is based on malting barley varieties that failed to be selected for malting, rather than higher-yielding feed varieties. For years, the standard for judging the quality of feed barley has largely been the bushel weight. Research has indicated that bushel weight is correlated to feed value, but not necessarily to feed energy. Feed barley of the same test weight can have a large variation in feed energy. Feed barley prices have remained surprisingly strong, given the large supplies, with the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) Lethbridge cash price expected to average about C$110/t in 2004-05, about 20% lower than in 2003-04. For 2005-06, the Canadian barley price is expected to remain near the 2004-05 level.

Zimbabwe & Russia: The Zimbabwe Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) said on April 8 it has planted at least 2,000 ha of barley for export to Russia...more info

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