1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there are two OFFERS for 7000 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1-5000 mtons of malt, 2RS Scarlet/Aspen, crop 2003, bulk, delivery 1/1/2004 - 31/12/2004, at EUR 281.00 /mton, FOB Antwerp. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1305P1328)
  
  
• Offer for 1500-2000 mtons of malt, 6RW Esterel, crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/6/2003 - 31/8/2003, at EUR 284.00 /mton, CIF St. Petersburg. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1305P1325)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• The Board of Scottish & Newcastle PLC (S&N) announced on May 13, 2003 that S&N has entered into a binding agreement to acquire full control of Sociedade Central de Cervejas ... Click here
  
  
• Russian brewer OAO “Yarpivo” has finished the deal about purchasing 77.8% shares of OAO Pivzavod Voronezhsky from Baltic Beverages Holding ... Click here
  
  
• Brazil's AmBev, the world's fifth-largest brewer, has recently posted its first-quarter earnings more than doubled on cost savings, price increases... Click here
  
  
• Shipments of malt to Russia continue slow. The port of St. Petersburg is not yet completely ice-free ... Click here
  
  
• Venezuela counts on a loss of 25 % of its usual annual sales and production of malt ... Click here
  
  
• EU malting barley production. Click here
  
  
• Regarding old crop, malting barley markets remained inactive and depressed ... Click here
  
  

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

• Carlsberg, Denmark’s beer maker, has confirmed that it has to spend on acquisitions between DKr10 billion and DKr15 billion ...more info



• The media-shy liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, one of Thailand"s richest men, has begun consolidating all his alcohol-related units, including Sang Som Group, under Beer Thai (1991) Co ...more info



• The Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar is claiming victory over its rival US-based Anheuser-Busch in the latest round of legal battles ...more info



• The UK brewer Scottish & Nwecastle was re-rated by Investec Securities from "buy" to "hold". The analysts of S&N attributed the action to the “lacklustre outlook for its beer operations” ...more info



• DB Breweries Ltd, the second largest brewer of New Zealand has posted 25% rise of its net profit after tax for the first half of the year, ending March 31st ...more info



• Japanese beer maker, Kirin Brewery, has posted good results for the first quarter 2003. Company’s operating profits jumped 179.4% to ¥9,973 million ...more info



• Norwegian drinks-to-media group Orkla ASA said on Thursday it swung to a small pre-tax loss in the first quarter after lower beer sales and a big writedown on its share portfolio ...more info



• Finish company, Olvi Group, has posted a first quarter operating loss of EUR 0.14 million, versus a profit of EUR 0.04 million for the same period 2002 ...more info



• Refresh UK, the UK brewer, importer and distributor of premium beer and lager brands for the UK market, plans to spend £700 thousand for advertising its German beer brand Löwenbräu Original ...more info



• The Danish brewing force, Carlsberg, is unlikely to grow through further joint ventures or acquisitions in the present environment. The decision followed the 96% fall in Q1 profits ...more info



• Chinese government has reprimanded the China's largest brewing force, Tsingtao, and ordered to withdraw its latest beer brand, because it contains traditional Chinese medicines ...more info



• Bank Oyens & Van Eeghen, the Dutch bank has raised on May 9 its estimates for Heineken's earnings per share ...more info




2. Brewery News

The Board of Scottish & Newcastle PLC (S&N) announced on May 13, 2003 that S&N has entered into a binding agreement to acquire full control of Sociedade Central de Cervejas (Central de Cervejas), the Portuguese brewer and distributor, in which S&N currently has a 49% stake. S&N has acquired the remaining 51% stake in the business from its joint venture partners. In addition, S&N has entered into a binding agreement to acquire from the same joint venture partners, 100% of Sociedade da Agua de Luso (Luso), a leading producer of branded mineral and spring water, including the brand Luso, the number one bottled water brand in Portugal. The total net cash consideration that will be payable on completion by S&N for these transactions is €342 million. S&N will also consolidate approximately €157 million of debt relating to the two businesses (although €70 million of this relates to S&N’s existing 49% investment)...more info

Russian brewer OAO “Yarpivo” has finished the deal about purchasing 77.8% shares of OAO Pivzavod Voronezhsky from Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), according to an official statement published by Voronezhsky brewery. Under the agreement OAO Yarpivo has acquired 311,844 shares of Voronezhsky brewery. Baltic Beverage Holding bought the majority stake of Voronezhsky at the beginning of 2002. Voronezhsky plant produces about 45 million litres of beer per annum, having a production capacity of 73 million litres per annum. Before the acquisition of Voronezh plant, BBH owned 13 brewing plants in CIS countries: four in Baltic states, seven in Russia and two in Ukraine. Yarpivo Company was created in 1973. In 1993 it was reorganized into a joint-stock company. The Scandinavian concern Baltic Beverages Holding AB holds 60% of shares. In 2001 Yarpivo output 350 million litres of beer, in 2002 – 470 million litres.

Brazil's AmBev, the world's fifth-largest brewer, has recently posted its first-quarter earnings more than doubled on cost savings, price increases and stronger beer sales in its home market. That was more than twice the 222.8 million reais first-quarter net in 2002. "As part of our commitment to generate savings in real terms of 150 million to 200 million reais in 2003, we reached 76.3 million reais in reduction of costs (of goods sold) and a 78.5 million reais reduction in general and administrative costs in the first quarter," AmBev board co-president Marcel Telles was quoted as saying in a statement...more info

3. Malt News

Shipments of malt to Russia continue slow. The port of St. Petersburg is not yet completely ice-free. Russian brewers started to cover malt for 2004, sales are reported from Finland, Slovakia, Ukraine, not yet from Western Europe. Prices were low, but cannot be reliably reported.

Venezuela counts on a loss of 25 % of its usual annual sales and production of malt. Not only the general strike of two months cut down all work in the breweries, but also the government has not permitted brewers since end of January to cover US Dollars against the local bolivars for imports of malt.

4. Barley News

EU malting barley production



In million tonnes	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004
Spring malting barley	6.7	7.7	7.1	8.0	7.4	8.1
Winter malting barley	2.6	2.4	3.0	2.4	3.0	2.3
Total malting barley output in EU	9.3	10.1	10.1	10.4	10.4	10.4


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

Source: Conference GrainWorld 2003 presentations.

Regarding old crop, malting barley markets remained inactive and depressed. The SARS disease makes it unlikely that China will come in the market for additional large purchases. Some interest from South America will not clean out the available stocks. New crop barley was initially under further pressure from the larger spring barley acreage and bad news from the malt sector. It turned around with the growing concern about dryness and stayed at the somewhat higher levels in spite of the recent rains.