As Kommersant has learned, the SUN Interbrew company is selecting a site in Siberia for the construction of a malting plant with a capacity of up to 200 thousand tons of products per year. One of the most likely options is to locate production in the Altai Territory. According to experts, the volume of expected investments in the project could reach up to $100 million. As reported by the press service of the head of the agriculture department of the Altai Territory administration, the SUN Interbrew delegation, led by technical development director William Vandermeyer, met with specialists from the head of the department and representatives of the regional union peasant (farmer) formations (Union). As it was stated at the meeting, the company began to get acquainted with the possibilities of the Siberian regions in terms of building a malting plant with a capacity of up to 200 thousand tons of products per year.
The Altai Territory is considered as one of the most suitable options for locating production. As the executive director of the Union, Alexander Weiss, told Kommersant, in Altai, where food barley was mainly cultivated, there is already experience in growing malting barley. Thus, in 2005, farms in the region purchased and sowed about 200 tons of barley of the German Anabel variety, which showed good results. “The correct choice of cultivation zones and well-developed agricultural technology specifically for this crop will allow us to obtain at least 20 c/ha and achieve the required grain quality,” explained Mr. Weiss. In addition, another of the requirements of the company’s specialists for locating production is that “there should be a specialized elevator nearby, where barley could be “kept” for at least 14 months, as required by technology, a transport interchange (railway line and highway), and also a gas pipeline.” According to Mr. Weiss, the sites in the Talmensky district and Novoaltaisk meet these conditions.
According to the participants in the negotiations, representatives of SUN Interbrew “expressed interest in mutually beneficial cooperation.” For example, it is planned to “establish experimental seed plots for growing progressive varieties of malting barley on the basis of Altai farms, providing them with a seed fund and centralized purchase of barley at fixed world prices.” “To ensure the required malting production capacity, it is necessary to obtain 250 thousand tons of barley, which means that up to 150 peasant farms must be involved in this process,” said Alexander Weiss.
OJSC SUN Interbrew is a Russian subsidiary of the holding company SUN Interbrew Ltd., formed in 1999 as a result of the merger of beer production facilities in Russia and Ukraine. Now the structure of SUN Interbrew in Russia includes 9 breweries and sales offices in different parts of the country. The share of SUN Interbrew OJSC in 2005 in the Russian beer market in physical terms, according to analysts, was 17.7% compared to 15.6% in 2004. The company's sales volume reached 15.7 million hectoliters of beer (in 2004 - 12.9 million hectoliters). Net revenue last year amounted to 894.7 million euros, net profit - 54.5 million euros. SUN Interbrew yesterday refused to give a “detailed” comment on the company’s plans. The company’s PR manager Alexey Shavenzov only noted that “the possibilities of developing the company’s malting capacities in Russia are being considered,” however, “it is premature to talk about any kind of details, including the possible construction of a malting plant in the future.” According to experts, the volume of expected investments in such production could reach up to $100 million.
Meanwhile, according to experts, the decision to build a malt production facility in Siberia is part of a plan to move to the east of the country. Let us remind you that SUN Interbrew has a plant in Omsk and has already begun construction of a brewery in Angarsk (Irkutsk region). The needs of these enterprises will be met by the expected capacity of the future malt house, and transport costs will be reduced. As Igor Pavensky, an analyst at the Moscow Institute of Agricultural Market Studies, noted to Kommersant, “the construction of a malt plant in Siberia would be logical for a company that continues to expand its brewing capacity here.” However, according to Mr. Pavensky, “SUN Interbrew is unlikely to have difficulties with selling excess raw materials - about 200 thousand tons of malt and about the same amount of barley are imported to Russia today.” It is also possible, according to the analyst, to export malt to Asia-Pacific countries, primarily to the Chinese market.
According to Alexander Weiss, the next meeting with company representatives “for a more in-depth study of the identified issues of the parties” will take place in early 2007.
Yuri Belov, Novosibirsk

Kommersant (Novosibirsk) No. 223 dated November 29, 2006, p. 16

SUN Interbrew will come to Siberia for malt