Carlsberg’s interim results for the 1st half of 2008 were posted on the company’s official site on August 5.

Total organic beer volume growth of 6% in H1 2008 was driven by continued growth despite tough comparables in Eastern Europe, and in Asia, and a flat overall performance in Northern and Western Europe. Total group beer volume growth of 24% was achieved.

In second quarter organic beer volumes grew by 13% in Eastern Europe; including volume growth in Russia of 6.5% versus market growth of 2.8%.

Total organic growth in net revenue was 7% (10% in local currencies) and in operating profit it was 22% (in local currencies 26%).

Second quarter is imported to have had organic growth in net revenue of 7% (in local currencies 10%; in Northern and Western Europe +3%, Eastern Europe +30%, and Asia +20%). Total organic growth in operating profit in the brewing activities in the second quarter was 16% (in local currencies 19%).

The brewer notes significant improvement of product mix, especially in Russia, where consumer preference for premium beer continues to grow.

Price increases are compensating for rising raw material prices and leading to higher gross earnings. Despite higher selling prices Carlsberg increased its market share in most markets. ...More Info

Western Canadian farmers will receive about $7 billion from grain marketed through the CWB in 2007-08, up 57 per cent over 2006-07 and double the year before, CWB’s official site quoted Ian White, the company’s president and CEO, on July 31.

White said a pooled approach to selling in this year’s high-price international grain environment was responsible for putting an estimated additional $560 million in farmers’ pockets, included in total revenue for spring wheat and durum. By contrast, most American farmers sold early -- well before the dramatic price spikes of early 2008.

Larry Hill, chair of the CWB board of directors, said the 2007-08 crop year demonstrates the advantages of the western Canadian approach to wheat and barley marketing.

CWB malting barley sales were the highest in eight years at 2.4 million tonnes -- a 33-per-cent increase over last year. This included record sales of 114 000 tonnes to Mexico and a half-million-tonne increase in exports to the United States. Producer returns for designated barley will be about $5 per bushel at farmgate, up 65 per cent over 2006-07.

Preliminary export numbers for 2007-08 are 11.3 million tonnes (MT) wheat, 3.1 MT durum, 1.6 MT feed barley and 1.3 MT malting barley. Domestic ...More Info

Markéta Dvoráková, Luis F. Guido, Pavel Dostálek, Zuzana Skulilová, Manuela M. Moreira, and Aquiles A. Barros

Abstract

J. Inst. Brew. 114(1), 27–33, 2008 Ten different barley cultivars and their corresponding malts were used to obtain different fractions. Phenolics extracted belonged to free, soluble esters and insoluble-bound fractions. Total phenolic content (TPC) of the free fraction, as measured according to the Folin-Ciocalteu method, ranged from 37.7 to 167.2 mg gallic acid equiv/kg of dried material (GAE/kgdw) for barley and between 34.1 and 72.3 mg GAE/kgdw for malt. The bound phenolic content ranged from 210.3 to 320.5 and between 81.1 and 234.9 mg GAE/kgdw for barley and malt, respectively. The contribution of bound phenolics to the TPC was significantly higher than that of free and esterified fractions. Catechin and ferulic acid, quantified by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD), were the most abundant phenolics in the free and bound fractions, respectively. The p-coumaric acid content was lower in hulless genotypes, as compared to hulled genotypes, showing that it is mainly concentrated in the hull. The antioxidant activities of the phenolic fractions were investigated using the radical scavenging assay (DPPH) and ferricyanide reducing power. The bound phenolics demonstrated a significantly higher antioxidant capacity compared to the free and esterified phenolics. During the malting process, a significant decrease of the bound phenolics was observed with a corresponding increase of the esterified fraction. Key words: Antioxidant properties, barley, free phenolics, insoluble- bound phenolics, soluble ester phenolics, malt. Load full article, 7 pages, 558 Kb, PDF file