Unsurprisingly, keen interest was registered in Upakovka/Upak Italia 2009, the International Trade Fair Machinery and Equipment for the Manufacture of Packaging, Packaging Machinery, Confectionery Machinery, Packaging and Packaging Aids, Logistics. Jointly staged between 27 and 30 January, Interplastica 2009, the International Trade Fair Plastics and Rubber, and the premier trade fair for the packaging industry in Russia together welcomed 20,500 trade visitors from all corners of the CIS and its neighbours. A total of about 900 exhibitors rented a net area of 19,000 square metres to showcase their offerings. The general tenor of exhibitor responses was one of surprise at the wealth of intensive negotiations which promise good post-fair business.

An opportunity for customers and suppliers to get together, so that the former can gain a clearer understanding of the technological potential, services, sales set-up and assistance offered by the Group yet also so that suppliers can get a better understanding of a market of enormous potential with a fast-growing customer base that is ever-more attentive to product quality.

The 17th Standard Malt has been accepted after analysis by the Analysis Committee of the

“The swirling, dynamic, luminous core of what is now the most exciting beer culture on the planet,” is how Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewing Company described the Great American Beer Festival, which has taken place every autumn in Denver, Colorado for the last 26 years. It is advertised as “the biggest selection of American beers ever gathered together in the United States”.

Belgian brewer InBev is seeking a buyer for its majority stake in real estate subsidiary ImmoBrew.

New production facilities of KHS Machinery Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad, India were ceremonially commissioned on February 26th, 2007 in the presence of numerous honorary guests from politics and industry. The construction phase took only two years. A total of 8 million EUR has been invested. According to Maternus Gemmel, Director Sales and Marketing of the parent company KHS in Dortmund, the decision to build this new facility is “the right step at the right time”. Valentin Reisgen, Chairman of the Board, regards the opening as a milestone in KHS developing increasingly into an internationally operating group.

A major meeting place for professionals and companies operating on the beer market, Brazil Brau 2007 will gather together seventy exhibitors from all over the world. Scheduled for June 19th - 21st at the Frei Caneca Convention Center in São Paulo, Brazil, this event encompasses the IXth International Exhibition of Beverages Technology, the XIth Brazilian Congress of Brewery Science and Technology and the IIIrd Latin-American Symposium of Beverage Technology.

The provisional programme of the 31st EBC Congress has been published. The Congress will be held in Venice, Italy, 6 - 10 May 2007. Venue is the Lido di Venezia, Palazzo del Cinema & Palazzo del Casinò.

Just one weekend to install the upgrade BRAUMAT V5.3 S7.

What does a man need? If the ‘must-have’ columns in men’s magazines are to be believed, a digital camera, an MP3 music player and a mobile phone are cool gadgets for grown-up boys. However, what do you do if you already possess all of the above? You buy yourself a boys’ toy by Heineken … says Heineken! Not that there is a real need for men to have their own draught beer appliance cluttering up their kitchen top. But Heineken’s R&D department must have thought that they were on to a good idea. And male consumers have been buying these kits in droves according to Heineken’s recent corporate statement. Heineken reported that in the first half of 2006, beer volume generated by recent innovative beer systems such as DraughtKeg, BeerTender and the David draught system grew more than 30 percent, albeit from a low volume base.