1. Trading offer & request

At this moment there is one OFFER for 2000 tons of malt on the trading portal www.e-malt.com

• Offer for 1500-2000 mtons of malt, 6RW Esterel, crop 2002, bulk, delivery 1/7/2003 - 31/8/2003, at EUR 280.50 /mton, CIF St. Petersburg. (to see and make a bid to the malt offer, please click here to view code MF1605P0930)
  
  

 Top Industry News 

• Anheuser-Busch, Inc., the world's largest brewer, and local distributor Bacardi Dominicana announced on May 13 the introduction and distribution of Budweiser in the Dominican Republic Click here
  
  
• In 2002, Ukrainian brewers produced about 1460 million litres of beer, increasing beer output by 20% in comparison with 2001 year ... Click here
  
  
• SABMiller Plc, the world's second largest brewer, agreed on May 14 to buy a majority stake in Italy's family-owned Peroni for up to 246 million euros... Click here
  
  
• Malt imports of Brazil from outside Mercosur will be sharply down this year ... Click here
  
  
• Ukraine will still import malt. Click here
  
  
• In the period May 1 to May 7 average weighted price for 3rd class barley at the trades of Ukrainian commodity exchanges made 640 hryvnias (about $120) per tonne... Click here
  
  
• One of the main reasons for the collapse of malting barley prices this year is that stock change and ... Click here
  
  

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

• Beer shipments by Japan's five major breweries rose 0.2 % in April, the first gain in eight months, as consumers stocked up on low-malt products ahead of a tax increase ...more info



• Lion Nathan, the Australian beer and wine group, has reported a 10% increase of its net profit for the first half of the fiscal year versus the first half of the last fiscal year ...more info



• Brok Strzelec, the Poland’s brewer, has reported a consolidated net loss of PLN2.3m (EUR 535,000) for the first three months of the current year, versus a net loss of PLN500 thousand ...more info



• Shares in SABMiller, the world's second biggest brewer, fell almost 4% on May 15, hit by a steep fall in the South African rand and nagging fears about the price it is paying for Peroni ...more info



• Spendrups, the family held Swedish brewer, reported a turnover increase of seven percent to SEK 436m for the first quarter of 2003 ...more info



• A senior executive officer of the Kirin drinks group, Shigeki Ota, has resigned from the position of director of the company's part-owned subsidiary Lion Nathan ...more info



• The only brewery in Pakistan is Murree Brewery Co Ltd. In Pakistan, 97% of the population is Muslim and sale is limited to non-Muslims and tourists ...more info



• Asahi Breweries, Japanese beer maker, has reported a loss of ¥7.4 billion in the first quarter 2003 versus a loss of ¥2.1 billion in the same quarter last year ...more info



• Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc, the world's biggest brewer, said on May 14 its annual profit would be slightly better than previous forecasts on expectations of higher beer prices ...more info



• SABMiller Plc, the world's second largest brewer, is radically changing its export strategy. The changes are aimed at achieving its goal of turning Pilsner Urquell into ...more info



• Heineken’s acquisition of BBAG in Austria became a source of worry for Czech brewers. Through the deal, Heineken will lay its hands on Starobrno ...more info



• Mexican drinks group Femsa’s recent acquisition of soft drinks maker Panamco has raised speculation that the group would sell its brewery to finance the take-over ...more info



• Beer sales in Germany fell by about 9.1% in the first quarter of 2003. This is the steepest decline since the brewers started recording sales in the 1950s ...more info



• Sleeman Breweries Ltd., Canada's third largest brewer, reported on May 13 its first-quarter profit was down 4 % because of weaker Easter sales and higher beer taxes in Alberta ...more info



• The Královský Pivovar Krušovice (the Royal Brewery of Krušovice) one of the oldest breweries in the Czech Republic, posted a profit of CZK41.5m for 2002 ...more info



• CCU, the leading beer maker of Chile, has reported a 195% increase of its first-quarter consolidated net profit versus the corresponding quarter last year ...more info




2. Brewery News

Anheuser-Busch, Inc., the world's largest brewer, and local distributor Bacardi Dominicana announced on May 13 the introduction and distribution of Budweiser in the Dominican Republic. "We are excited to bring the outstanding quality and tradition of Budweiser to the Dominican Republic," said Bob Kelley, managing director - Caribbean, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. "Anheuser-Busch is committed to satisfying consumer demand for the world's most popular beer, and the success of the Budweiser brand continues to show there are opportunities for growth around the globe." Budweiser has been brewed since 1876 and is produced using only the finest barley malt, rice, hops, yeast and water. The brand is brewed at 12 breweries in the United States and nine other locations worldwide, and is available in more than 80 countries...more info

In 2002, Ukrainian brewers produced about 1460 million litres of beer, increasing beer output by 20% in comparison with 2001 year. In addition 90% of Ukrainian beer market was only held by four huge brewing conglomerates: Sun Interbrew Ukraine, Oboloni, BBH and Donetsk group, which left to their smaller colleagues not more then 10% of market space. Sun Interbrew Ukraine, which entered Ukrainian market in 1999, the owner of three brewers: Rogani, Desna and Iantari, was rated as the biggest beer maker in Ukraine in 2002, with an output of 445 million litres of beer, a 19.7% increase versus 372 million litres in 2001, when the beer leader was Oboloni brewery. In 2002 Oboloni produced 389 million litres of beer, 11.2% more against 2001. BBH group, including Lvov brewery and Slavutich, brewed in 2002 about 280 million litres of beer, increasing beer volume of the previous year by 26%. Donetsk group is the forth biggest brewing forth of Ukraine and gathers five plants: Sarmat, Lugansk, Dnepr, Poltavsk and Crimea. All the plants produced 214 million litres, 14% more then in 2001.

SABMiller Plc, the world's second largest brewer, agreed on May 14 to buy a majority stake in Italy's family-owned Peroni for up to 246 million euros($283 million) in its first move into Western Europe, Reuters reported. The group which bought U.S. brewer Miller last July for $5.6 billion and makes Pilsner Urquell, Miller Lite and Castle beers, said it expected to hold 80-100 percent of Peroni, maker of Nastro Azzurro beer, over the next three to five years. SABMiller said in a statement its initial stake would be between 51 percent and 60 percent. A 60 percent stake would mean an investment of 246 million euros and put Peroni's enterprise value at 563 million euros. SABMiller, with operations in Africa, the United States, eastern Europe and China, added that the transaction was not subject to any conditions and that closing of the deal was expected within three weeks. The group sees operational synergies leading to cost savings of not less than nine million euros by the end of the third full financial year...more info

3. Malt News

Malt imports of Brazil from outside Mercosur will be sharply down this yearafter stock reductions in South American malthouses. Beer consumption stagnates since 2-3 years.

Ukrainian breweries are expected to lobby for the privileged import of malt this year in spite of the fact that national malting plants plan to increase production, according to ukrbeer.kiev.ua. The phenomenon is caused by two factors. The first one is pessimistic expectation regarding barley crop. The second one is that malting industry of Ukraine is physically unable to provide the increasing demand of brewers. Now the import duty for malt is 30%. Ukrainian malting plants started developing in 2000 year, when Ukraine harvested a good crop of barley. By the end of 2000 malt production reached the volumes of 15 thousand tons per month. In 2001 Belgian brewer Interbrew, the owner of three Ukrainian breweries through Sun Interbrew, signed a contract with Greencore and Malteurop about providing its European brewing plants with malt. A part of the project was building a malting plant in Ukraine. Malteurop plans to launch it at a production capacity of 46 thousand tons per year (project capacity is 105 thousand tons per year) at Rogani brewery by the end of this year. Moreover, Malteurop has purchased from Sun Interbrew the malting plant of Desna brewery and is to increase its production capacity from 22 thousand tons to 44 thousand tons per year.



In thousand tons	2001	2002	%	2003 forecast
Ukrainian malt production	152.750	173.30	13.5%
Ukrainian import of malt	49.642	44.219	-10.9%	50


...more info

4. Barley News

In the period May 1 to May 7 average weighted price for 3rd class barley at the trades of Ukrainian commodity exchanges made 640 hryvnias (about $120) per tonne, National Association of Ukrainian Exchanges (NABU) has informed. 2nd class brewing barley cost 720 hryvnias ($135) per tonne. NABU incorporates 35 agricultural exchanges, of which 27 have a right for registration of export contracts. (AgriMarket.info)

One of the main reasons for the collapse of malting barley prices this year is that stock changeand maltsters entered the crop year with a carry-over from 2001/02 and will end this campaign with extremely low stocks. Such change can never happen for two years in a row.