AMERICAN BEER SHORTAGES BREWING?

Anheuser-Busch Beer Company began its operations in St. Louis, Missouri in 1860. By 1957 it had become the largest brewer in the United States, producing 11 billion bottles of beer. The Brazilian-Belgian Brewing Company InBev successively acquired for good or for bad the Anheuser-Busch Company on March 13, 2009 for a reportedly 46 billion dollars in an unauthorized bid. This acquisition brings together Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois, Bass and Brahma into the same family. It is the second biggest purchase of a U.S. Company after Proctor and Gamble acquired bought Gillette Co. for 57 billion in 2005. As of 2009 InBev has divested itself of Bush Gardens and Sea World theme parks located in Southern California. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev 

The families or clans as they are referred to that created InBev and are the controlling force behind it are the de Spoelberchs, de Prêt, Van Dammes, and de Mevius, who are Belgium’s wealthiest families. Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Tell are cofounders of the investment bank Banco Garantia of Brazil. They also sit on the board of director’s of Anheuser-Bush InBev.
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/awards/2009/brazilians.html

Two weeks ago employees at the Belgian Brewery Stella Artois, Jupiler and Hoegaarden closed down all operations in protest of the elimination of 3000 jobs at that plant.
In consequence of their actions, a shortage has occurred in the European and American Markets because of distribution agreements with InBev. As of Friday an agreement has been reached between management and the union to place a hold on all layoffs.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEziGvFPU0QRqCTTmlEmOSfXctjg
 
“They are a well oiled machine and they will stop at nothing,” said Claudio Bueno, when his business was destroyed by InBev’s business tactics. They now control one fourth of all beer sales, and greater profits. Plans may be in the works to finalize full ownership of Grupo Modelo SAB the maker of Corona beer in Mexico, which they inherited from the purchase of Anheuser-Busch.
"It's no secret that they've been eyeing Anheuser-Busch for a long time," Morningstar's Gilpin said. "Anheuser-Busch has been focused on U.S. domination and InBev was focused on global domination and that is the final frontier for them."
Another bit of history on Inbev is its buy out of Fujian Sedrin Brewery the largest brewer in Fujian Province of China in January of 2006. It has been renamed, “InBev Sedrin.” Becoming china’s largest brewery.
http://www.ab-inbev.com/press_releases/20060125.1.e.cfm

Hop and grain shortages may have aided InBev’s mission. One leading cause was flooding in Europe. The shortage of 2007 impacted the microbrewers because they did not have buffer hops in storage as did the larger brewers. The supply and demand balance was set up for shortages, and prices went up. Another way for big conglomerates’ to manipulate price is to control the raw materials used in brewing. Add to that the higher cost of farming, harvesting and transportation. As we have seen in other products, when prices go up, they never return to its previous price point. After InBev’s merger with Anheuser-Busch they increased prices five percent.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16245024
 
According to Outside the Beltway, the S.S. Steiner warehouse in Yakima, Washington burned to the ground in March of 2006. Lost in this fire was four percent of America’s yield of hops for the nation. According to CNN, “The United States produces 24 percent of the world’s hops, and about three-fourths of the U.S. crop comes from the Yakima Valley.”
http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/2009/10/post_10.html 

To compensate for the shortage of 2007, farmers over planted in 2009. This created a glut in the markets with a lower financial return. Many fields have yet to be purchased, leading to farmers turning their crops under. Another fear among the farmers is that a continued glut will drive prices down further and force them out of business.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/2009/10/post_10.html

InBev’s next move will be to buyout hop and grain producers when their once thriving markets are purposely sabotaged. Inbev would control the entire production value stream for most of the worlds brew. As a result they will set there own production rate, and reap the financial gains.