Yugoslavia is becoming an increasingly interesting market for soft drinks in Eastern Europe. This is sufficient reason for Sinalco to invest there. Together with its partner Si & Si, Subotica, located in Voivodina near the Hungarian border, 6 million DM were invested in new buildings, production facilities and distribution this year. The emphasis was on plant and equipment: A new Krones PET compact plant was commissioned in July, comprising a blowing machine, air transport of empty bottles, a Variojet rinser, a Mecafill VKS-PET filler, ink-jet date coding, a Canmatic labelling machine and a Shrinkmaster and other equipment. A new CO2 tank was also installed. The plant has a capacity of 6000 fills/h, all usual PET containers from 0.33 l to 2 l can be handled..

Japanese investment bank Nomura is believed to be close to finalising the acquisition of 1,000 Bass pubs. Its only competitor is understood to be Legal & General Ventures, a private equity firm. Nomura has identified 850 pubs which would be converted into leaseholds, while the future of the remaining 150 managed pubs still needs to be decided. They could be sold or managed by Nomura which already owns the Wizard Inns managed estate. Bass’ asking price was said to be £700 million, although the final price is expected to be closer to £650 million.

Trade secretary Stephen Byers announced on 1 December that the Beer Orders provision, protecting publicans’ rights to offer a guest beer, is to remain in place. He has retained the ban on brewers selling pubs with clauses which prevent them trading as licensed premises in the future. This decision is seen as a means to protect rural pubs. Furthermore Byers scrapped the cap on the size of brewers’ tied estates and the requirement on large brewers not to tie alcoholic drinks other than beer. The announcements follow a review of the Beer Orders by the Office of Fair Trading. A new Order will be made to amend the previous Beer Orders, the Department of Trade and Industry said.

During the worst floods Britain has had for decades, the family brewer Harvey’s of Lewes was under six feet of water for more than 24 hours. The insurance claim could run into several hundred thousand Pounds. The force of the water buckled empty vessels and nearly 1,000 casks floated out into the Atlantic. Hundreds more casks might have to be written off as the flood water was contaminated with sewage water and diesel. The brewery shop as well as two pubs were also flooded and could take months to re-open.

It’s either a case of bad karma or plain "headlining". According to some UK media, the acquisition of Bass Brewers by Interbrew could receive severe mauling from the Competition Commission as Competition Commission chiefs have asked for more details of the likely effect of Interbrew’s £ 2.3 billion deal on beer distribution in the UK. Pundits at the Sunday Telegraph argued that the chances of the deal being blocked were increasing sharply.
The Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA, which had been asked to make a submission to the Competition Commission, has argued for a 10 year ban on Interbrew buying any pubs in the UK. Moreover, the brewer should be prevented from buying any other breweries or increasing its market share through brand acquisition or other trading arrangements..

This summer, locals and Finns must have partied particularly hardy along St. Peterburg’s Neva river during the city’s famous White Nights. Well, how should we explain otherwise Baltika Brewery’s 61.6 % increase in beer sales to 5.7 million hl in the first eight months of 2000, from 3.5 million hl in the same period a year ago? Together with its subsidiaries, Baltika Don (910,000 hl) and Tula (940,000 hl), Baltika posted sales of 7.5 million hl of beer. According to company figures, from January to August 2000 Baltika controlled 20 % of the Russian beer market.
Baltika announced that in 2001 it would invest US$100 million to increase production capacityto 9 million hl. Strategic tasks include the acquisition or construction of plants in Siberia and the CIS..

Despite a ban on advertising and higher excise taxes, the Polish beer market is regarded very positively. The Zywiec Group of Zywiec is market
leader. At the end of 1998, Zywiec Brewery, controlled by Heineken International, took over Brewpole, with the EB (El-Brewery), Warka and Lezajsk brands. Heineken has a 50 % stake and Harbin a 38.3 % shareholding in the Zywiec Group. The Group’s market share declined from 36.7 % at the end of 1999 to 31.0 % at the end of March 2000. Demand dropped, especially for EB beers.
On the other hand, Kompania Piwowarska SA, Poznan, incorporating the Tyskie and Lech breweries, increased market share from 22.7 to 27.6 % during the same period. Shareholders are Euro Agro Centrum from Poland and South African Breweries (SAB).1 million hl.2 - 6.5 %.8 %.

German brewers Veltins and Gebr. Maisel have announced an alliance affecting their respective product portfolios. It is believed that the product alliance will benefit the two brewers’ combined 20,000 allied gastronomic outlets and will provide synergies as concerns logistics and distribution. Following the alliance, Veltins (1999: turnover DM 381 million, output 2.35 million hl of beer, 495 employees) will be able to offer a premium wheat beer brand (Maisel), while Gebr. Maisel (1999: turnover DM 61 million, output 410,000 hl of beer, 218 employees) will be able to offer a national premium pils brand (Veltins) to its customers. In a separate move, Veltins bought a stake in Maisel with an option to double that stake and thus become majority stakeholder.

.Le Coq Tartu Brewery reported beverage sales up 54 % for the eight months of 2000 to 294,000 hl. While output of beer grew 75 %, cider output rose 125 %. Beer output was 192,000 hl compared with 110,000 hl in the same period last year. Thus A.Le Coq brewery, which is located in the southern Estonian university town of Tartu, boosted its market share to over 30 percent of the market of Estonian-made beer in August. The Finnish brewer Olvi Oy has a majority stake in A.Le Coq with further stakes in the Latvian brewer Cesu Alus and the Lithuanian brewer Ragutis. Due to a drop in sales July and August (-19.9 % and -11.8 %), the nine-month beer output (Jan-Sept.) of all Estonian brewers totalled 749.000 hl, a drop of 2.1 % compared with the same period last year.

Because of the large differences in beer taxation between Denmark and Germany, as much as 20 % of Danish beer consumption is believed to be purchased south of the border and the trend is continuing.
As a result, Carlsberg deems it possible that beer consumption in Denmark may decline further. Nevertheless, for the twelve months ending 30 September 2000, the Carlsberg Group reported a net turnover of DKK 27,878 million, up 17 %, and an operating profit of DKK 2,355 million, up 41 % on the previous year. Including special items, profit before financials was DKK 2,793 million. Special items totalled DKK 438 million and included the sale
of shares in Grupo Cruzcampo, sale of shares in Tivoli, sale of properties and a write-down of brewery in China..