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just-drinks.com editor's weekly highlights | |
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US Drinks Conference 2008, Tuesday 14 October at Marriott Marble Arch, London.
In a week where global economic woes monopolised the front pages of every major newspaper from the US to Asia, it is fitting, perhaps, that it’s been the beer industry that has hogged the limelight on just-drinks the last few days. After all, a cold beer is the traditional antidote to a hard day of worry, isn’t it? Cheap and cheerful in comparison to its competitors in the wines and spirits category, beer should be the ultimate recession-proof beverage. Certainly, a look at the forecasts at Anheuser-Busch would suggest so. The US brewer said last week that it was bullish about its sales this quarter. Price rises across the majority of the brewing giant's portfolio have lifted revenue per barrel by 4% in the quarter, compared to the same period last year, it said. However, news elsewhere was less positive. A-B’s good cheer follows a warning from analyst group Bernstein that the US beer market has seen a "significant downturn" in volume sales in the last few months. "Domestic beer shipments have declined from approx 3% at the start of the year to modest decline, and import brands have been hit by changing consumption patterns," a note said. InBev (which, it won’t be lost on you, is buying A-B), meanwhile, issued a warning that its profits in this third quarter would continue to deliver a “slight contraction”, despite a slender lift in volumes for the period. No real surprises here, with rising costs widely expected to continue to hit the company's bottom line. There were even worrying signs from Russia – one of the fast growing 'BRIC' economies the drinks industry is looking to for growth – as Carlsberg warned of slowing sales on the back of poor weather and economic uncertainty. There was good news for Heineken at least, which was finally able to toast the Irish competition authorities, when the company cleared the final hurdle in its purchase of Scottish & Newcastle, earlier this year. The Netherlands-based company received the green light for its purchase of S&N's Beamish & Crawford unit in the country last week. The move will also soften the blow for Heineken of losing San Miguel in the UK. The announcement last week that the Spanish beer brand will be run by Carlsberg in the country is curious, seeing as Heineken took over S&N's UK operations as part of the joint-purchase. just-drinks learnt earlier this year that Mahou San Miguel wanted as little to do with Heineken as possible, once the two European brewers had broken up its former partner, due in part to the fierce competition raging between Mahou San Miguel and Heineken in the Spanish beer market. Good to see some good old-fashioned rivalry breaking through the doom and gloom last week, don't you think? Until next time... Olly Wehring, Managing Editor Web: www.just-drinks.com
US Drinks Conference 2008, Tuesday 14 October at Marriott Marble Arch, London.
Join thousands of ingredients experts at Health ingredients Europe & Natural ingredients 2008 and get the latest on novel innovations from 500 exhibitors, dive into pressing issues in the co-located conference, and shake hands with thousands of ingredients professionals from over 100 countries. 4-6 November, Paris.
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Focus - Functional ingredients: aspiring to taste success [MEM] As the functional food and drink market develops and choice broadens, consumers are becoming more demanding about how products taste rather than simply buying them for their health-enhancing properties. Ahead of next month’s Health Ingredients Europe trade show, Annette Farr looks at some of the new functional ingredients hitting the market and asks how ingredient companies are tackling the taste challenge.
WTO Doha Round’s near-deal conclusion The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round is now at a crossroads. After coming to a hair’s breadth of striking a deal at a ministerial summit in July, there is now a serious risk that agreements wrung from these seven years of discussions could now unravel. If trade ministers are prepared to return to Geneva to solve the limited range of issues over which they were unable to reach agreement, a Doha deal could be secured this year. But, this seems unlikely, with the US presidential election looming. In this month's briefing, we assess the prospects of the WTO recovering from this latest setback and consider what is at stake.
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October 6, 2008 
