Beyond The Headlines: Nestlé invests in Vietnam coffee production, British-Mexico pork trade expands

12 Jan 2024 --- In this week’s industry news, Nestlé Vietnam announced US$100 million investment to increase production capacity of its Tri An coffee factory, located in the southern province of Đồng Nai. British pork exporters are set to benefit from additional trade with Mexico, while Ensemble, Tereos’ plant proteins brand, announced a €4 million (US$4.3 million) investment from the Co-operative Group in order to triple its production capacity as of 2024.

Business highlights
Nestlé Vietnam announced a US$100 million investment to increase production capacity of its Tri An coffee factory, located in the southern province of Đồng Nai. This will help the company meet growing local and international consumer demand for coffee. The factory currently exports coffee products from brands, such as Nescafé, Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Starbucks, to more than 29 countries worldwide. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest producer and exporter of coffee and an important coffee origin for Nestlé. The company is the largest coffee buyer in the country, with annual purchases reaching up to US$700 million.

Ensemble received a €4 million (US$4.4 million) investment from the Co-operative Group (Image credit: Ensemble).The Kroger Co., PearlRock Partners and MidOcean Partners joined forces to form MPearlRock platform to introduce emerging consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to new customers. MPearlRock will also use 84.51°’s retail data science and insights as it seeks to work with emerging CPG companies to identify exciting brands and the best ways to invest to capitalize on the changing retail landscape.

British pork exporters are set to benefit from additional trade with Mexico with the market opening further to include offals with a potential estimated value of £18 million (US$23 million) over the next five years. This is another boost for the sector and has come two years after the Mexican market opened for British pork for the first time, according to the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Mexico is one of the biggest pork importers in the world. Pork is the second most consumed meat in the country with consumption expected to grow over the next decade. Mexico consumes more pork than it is able to produce, with pork consumption increasing 4.7% per year from 2017 to 2022.

Sustainable food and farming
At Nestlé’s plant in Nunspeet, the Netherlands, GEA says it will equip a milk powder line for hypoallergenic infant formula with the latest process and heat pump technology. Using an innovative heat recovery from the spray dryer and further processes, the plant will use 75% less energy for steam and massively reduce carbon emissions. In this way, the German food corporation is supporting Nestlé on its path to net zero by making the energy supply to Nestlé production facilities emission-free by 2050.

Launches and innovation
Mush Foods, the food-tech innovator behind a mushroom mycelium blend, launched 50Cut, a line of chef-crafted mushroom root blends that improve nutrition and sustainability in ground beef, poultry, and fish dishes. Mush Foods utilizes a proprietary, highly efficient, and sustainable above-ground cultivation technique to rapidly grow a variety of culinary-grade mushroom roots. This US launch follows last year's introduction for restaurants in Israel.

GEA is equipping the Netherlands Nestlé plant with a milk powder line for hypoallergenic infant formula (Image credit: Nestlé).Ensemble, Tereos’ plant proteins brand, announced a €4 million (US$4.4 million) investment from the Co-operative Group in order to triple its production capacity as of 2024, equating to 15 million meals per year. Building on its 50% sales growth in 2023, the business aims to increase its sales tenfold in the next five years in the rapidly growing plant proteins market, where consumer demand for sustainable plant-based alternatives continues to rise. The brand now offers a single recipe in four different formats (sauté, tenders, medallions and strips), and expects 2024 will see a number of product innovations including new recipes, ready-to-use sauce dishes and a range launch with flavors inspired by the sea, enabling Ensemble to establish itself in new markets, including Asia.

Flavorchem revealed its newest turnkey beverage development service, The Bench. The Bench’s product experts start with a brand’s custom beverage idea and take them through the entire product development process including commercialization and launch. Although this division is new to Flavorchem, their R&D team has been doing product development work for over 50 years across a full spectrum of food and beverage categories including coffee and tea, functional drinks, and alcoholic beverages, says the company.

Other highlights
According to the British Retail Consortium, UK total retail sales increased by 3.6% overall in 2023 from 2022. Food growth was 8.1% and the non-food decline was 0.1% for the year. UK total retail sales increased by 1.7% in December 2023, against a growth of 6.9% in December 2022. This was below the three-month average growth of 2.3% and below the 12-month average growth of 3.6%. Food sales increased 6.8% on a total basis over the three months to December. This is below the 12-month average growth of 8.1%. For the month of December, food was in growth year-on-year.

The rise in the cost-of-living has had a disproportionate impact on people already struggling to make ends meet which led to UK organization FareShare launching its winter campaign to help turn more surplus food into meals for people in need, with the help of food and drink retailers, manufacturers and foodservice operators. The food given will be distributed to 8,500 frontline charities and community groups across the UK, reaching a wide variety of those in need including school breakfast clubs, older people’s lunch clubs, homeless shelters and community cafes. 

By Gaynor Selby