CSM Confirms Ancient Grains Opportunity Outperforms Expectations

13 Nov 2013 --- CSM Bakery Supplies’ commitment to growers ahead of harvest signals increasing popularity of ancient cereals and the company’s aim to retain its position as a leading supplier.

“Ancient cereals have experienced a remarkable growth over recent years due to consumer appreciation for tradition and authenticity. Availability of these often difficult to produce crops is becoming increasingly important to customers who are keen to capitalise on the growing trend for their application in speciality breads,” said Joep Van Cleemput, CSM’s Category Marketing Leader for Bread Ingredients.

“Six years ago, seeds were scarce but CSM’s pioneering relationships with growers of Einkorn, Emmer and Wild Rye led to the first significant harvest in 2007. Our foresight paid off. Since then, harvest volumes have more than tripled. We have seen clear commercial benefits of this strategy with double digit increase in sales of our range of ancient grains, which are now available in ten European countries.”

The resurgent popularity of ancient grains - some of which were cultivated already 8,000BC - is attributed to their natural heritage as well as the distinctive taste profile they bring to traditional bakery recipes. In a generally flat European bread market currently estimated at 27.1 million tons in size, speciality breads consumption is predicted to grow in key regions such as France (by 5.6%), Italy (by 8.1%) and Belgium (by 8.1%) by 2015 (source GIRA).

“Growth in speciality bread has been driven by an increase in consumer attraction to products made with wholegrain flour, seeds and kernels, as these provide higher level of nutrients and taste. The noble ancient grains fit into this trend; ancient cereal crop production has been much less focused on yield and therefore taste and quality have remained of paramount importance,” adds Joep Van Cleemput.

CSM is currently selling ancient cereal bread mixes in more than 20 countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Austria and Poland. The wide range of tasty bread products are launched under the brand names of Waldkorn and Kraftkorn, as well as the highly successful Hildegard von Bingen Bread.