USA: Anheuser-Busch�s CEO says beer has big economic role

Beer can give communities an economic buzz, the chairman and chief executive officer of Anheuser-Busch said at Montana Tech, according to Montana Standard, May 1.

August Busch IV, during an address at the Montana Economic Development Summit, said local distributors such as Thompson's Distributing of Butte are the heart of the nation's largest beer producer and bolster state economies.

Anheuser-Busch beverages - which include Budweiser - account for 48 percent of all beer consumed in Montana. The company pays $2.2 million in state excise taxes, he said. Anheuser-Busch has 12 distributors and employs 300 people in Montana.

Busch said his company has $31 million worth of capital investments in Montana through its support centers and three grain storage units each capable of holding 7 million bushels. More than 35 percent of the barley Montana exports ends up in Anheuser-Busch beer, he said. That's 57 million pounds, or the barley for one out of every four beers Anheuser-Busch makes.

With increase in ethanol demand, states are moving toward corn production and abandoning grains.

That leaves Montana, with its fertile soil and arid climate, open to filling increasing gaps in the barley market, Busch said.

"There's great potential for increasing our acquisitions of Montana (barley)."