23 Apr 2018 --- European dairy cooperative Arla Foods says that it needs to make €400 million in savings partly because of the currency implications of Brexit as well as pressure from commodity prices.
The dairy giant plans to cut €400m (US$493.9m) on costs from its business and has launched an internal transformation program called “Calcium” to do so.
20 Apr 2018 --- This week in business, ADM was named by USG Corporation (USG) as its Diversity & Inclusion Supplier of the Year for 2018. The Supervisory Board of GEA Group and the Chief Financial Officer of GEA Group mutually agreed that Helmut Schmale would step down from the Executive Board before the termination of his appointment, which is due to expire at the end of March 2021. Meanwhile, Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, Ornua announced the appointment of John Jordan as Chief Executive Designate and Tate & Lyle appointed of Imran Nawaz to the position of Chief Financial Officer, and to the Board of Tate & Lyle, with effect from August 1, 2018. Mondelēz International has inaugurated its newest “Factory of the Future” in the Kingdom of Bahrain as it aims to meet the growing consumer demand and Bell & Evans will invest US$260 million in building a new poultry harvesting facility in Pennsylvania in its new expansion strategy in the US.
19 Apr 2018 --- Nestlé has reported a “solid” start to the year with organic growth of 2.8 percent and sales edging up 1.4 percent to CHF 21.3 billion (US$22bn). The Swiss transnational food and drink giant says that excluding the US confectionery business which was divested at the end of March, organic growth was 2.9 percent. RIG (Real Internal Growth) accelerated to 2.6 percent and continued to be at the high end of the food and beverage industry, while pricing was 0.2 percent, largely reflecting lower levels of inflation in emerging markets.
19 Apr 2018 --- For Finnish dairy company Valio, 2017 was a good year from a business development perspective with net sales increasing by 4.3 percent, and Valio was able to pay the co-operatives a steady milk price despite the challenging market situation. Valio introduced more than 100 new products and maintained a positive growth trend in added value products both in Finland and in exports.
19 Apr 2018 --- Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, Unilever, has reported its Q1 sales figures that met expectations, boosted mainly by increases in the volume of products sold, and maintained its financial full-year outlook.
18 Apr 2018 --- The world’s largest chemical producer BASF and arc-net are joining forces to use blockchain technology for livestock sustainability. The system captures data to provide an environmental footprint with full transparency and traceability along the entire value chain. The partnership is just the latest example of how the food industry can harness the power of blockchain technology.
13 Apr 2018 --- The European Commission plans to ban unfair trade practices in the food supply chain in a bid to help farmers and small and medium-sized businesses get fairer treatment.
The Commission is targeting the more damaging unfair trading practices and wants to see sanctions imposed by authorities if any new rules are breached.
13 Apr 2018 --- Distributor of ingredients, Barentz International, has announced the establishment of a joint venture with Deltagen Group, a specialized food ingredients distributor headquartered on Curaçao, with local presence in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru.
13 Apr 2018 --- Cargill is investing US$20 million to expand its Big Lake, Minnesota, egg processing facility. The Big Lake expansion includes capabilities to pasteurize, mix and cook a number of additional egg products for foodservice and protein ingredient customers, to meet increasing customer and consumer demand for a greater variety of cooked egg products.
11 Apr 2018 --- Marfrig Global Foods SA is to become the world’s second-largest beef producer after agreeing to pay US$969 million to acquire control of US-based National Beef Packing Company.
09 Apr 2018 --- Global commodities trader Cargill has reported the key financial results for the fiscal 2018 third quarter and first nine months ended Feb. 28, 2018. Adjusted operating earnings were US$559 million, a 22 percent decrease from last year’s US$715 million. Nine-month earnings totaled US$2.4 billion, down 7 percent from US$2.58 billion a year ago.
09 Apr 2018 --- CITIC Agri Fund Management Co Ltd is to buy a 25.18 percent stake in China’s Ausnutria Dairy Corporation Ltd for HK$1.96 billion (US$250 million), becoming the company’s largest shareholder. CITIC Agri Fund will buy 249 million new shares from dairy products supplier Ausnutria Dairy for HK$1.29 billion (US$1.64 million).
06 Apr 2018 --- Ireland’s largest farmer-owned dairy cooperative, Dairygold, has posted 2017 financials, saying it has delivered a robust financial performance in 2017 which has strengthened the balance sheet, while also paying leading prices for milk and grain to its members.
06 Apr 2018 --- The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto has reported disappointing sales and earnings for its fiscal second quarter as it sold less corn in the US. The company has said that the results were partly due to the drop in planted acres in the US this season, as well as the impact of lower commodity prices in Brazil.
06 Apr 2018 --- The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 172.8 points last month, up 1.1 percent from February. World food prices rose in March from the month before, driven by increases in grains and dairy costs, according to the FAO.
05 Apr 2018 --- A robust import program by Chinese buyers, combined with a weather-impacted New Zealand season, were the perfect ingredients for the short-term rally in the first-quarter 2018, according to the latest Rabobank Global Dairy Quarterly.
05 Apr 2018 --- Farmer-owned cooperative and global grains and foods company, CHS Inc., has reported a net income of US$346.7 million for the first half of its 2018 fiscal year (six-month period ended Feb. 28, 2018), compared to net income of US$223.7 million for the same period a year ago.
05 Apr 2018 --- The JM Smucker Company has announced that it will acquire Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC in a transaction valued at approximately US$1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million. The company also announced that it would explore strategic options for its US baking business, including a potential sale.
03 Apr 2018 --- In its first retaliatory move since President Trump’s earlier tariffs on steel and aluminum, China has suspended tariff concessions, some reaching up to 25 percent, on a wide range of US food products. Products affected include frozen pork, almonds, pistachios, wine and fresh and dried fruit. To compensate for losses because of the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by Trump, China’s Ministry of Finance is now imposing the punitive measures on food, having previously warned that it would do so in an earlier announcement in March.
03 Apr 2018 --- Azelis has announced a distribution partnership with CP Kelco to offer their carrageenan, pectin, gellan gum and xanthan gum products for the Food Segment in Indonesia. Active from April 1, 2018, the partnership builds upon existing agreements between the two companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC).
