Dairy company Campina said it will increase investments into
products geared towards the growing health and wellbeing trend on
the back of significant success of its low fat products in 2007.
This week, Nestle lifts its 2008 profit expectations on an expected
fall in commodities costs, Danone denies it has an interest in
purchasing Dean Foods, and Kerry Foods makes an Irish dairy
acquisition.
Danone remains tight-lipped over reports that it hopes to merge a
number of rival companies run by the founder of its Chinese joint
venture partner Wahaha into its own operations in the country.
Calls by a UK-based dairy cooperative for the implementation of a
"fair trade" style price system for the country's milk
farmers to avoid a potential supply crisis, have not been backed by
the European Dairy Association...
Repositioning on a healthy food platform and investing in research
of value-added ingredients has lifted Nestle out of the reach of
raw material prices and other economic encumbrances.
Group Danone posted a 7.2 per cent increase in sales during the
full 2007 fiscal year amounting to €14.5bn, on the back of a strong
performance in its dairy and bottled water businesses.
This week, Fonterra reveals its milk supply concerns, Saputo posts
profit growth from its North American focus, and Parmalat says it
is meeting its financial expectations for the year.
Unilever posted a 5 per cent improvement in sales during the full
fiscal year, on the back of its increased focus on products with
vitality benefits, emerging markets and personal care.
Unilever is to extend its presence within ice cream manufacture
after announcing this week that it has agreed to acquire Russian
ice cream company Inmarko.
This week, Arla Foods increases payouts to its UK dairy farmers,
Athens is picked to host the second Global Dairy Conference in
March and Danone may have further expanded its presence in Asia.
UK-based Dairy Crest says that is full year financial expectations
remain unchanged following its third fiscal quarter despite
increased milk costs and a £9.4m (€12.6m) fine for alleged
anti-competitive practices.
Danone yesterday remained tight lipped over the possibility of
making an imminent acquisition into India's high growth dairy
market, as part of the company's longstanding expansion aims for
the country.
Dairy Crest and the East of England Co-operative Society are in
discussions over the sale of the latter's dairy operations as it
struggles to meet the growing costs of development and processing
in the industry.
Friesland Foods and Campina revealed today that exploratory talks
are underway to merge into a global dairy giant - and
Campina CEO Justin Sanders is standing down "to give the
talks more chance for success".
Chr Hansen has signed a conditional agreement to buy Swedish Arla
Foods' subsidiary Medipharm, a deal which will strengthen the
Danish firm's probiotic activities.
Danone's right to the trademarks of joint venture
partner Wahaha have been terminated after
it lost an arbitration battle in a Chinese court, the group
said today.
A number of UK-based retailers and dairy processors have admitted
involvement in alleged dairy price fixing for powdered milk, butter
and cheese, resulting in combined fines of about £116m (€161m).
European dairy giants Nestle and Vivartia are among a number of
companies facing fines imposed by the Greek competition authority
for allegedly fixing dairy prices in the country, press reports
have said.
Nutritek, a leading Russia-based manufacturer of infant nutrition
products, is selling off its dairy and agro business operations in
the country to focus on functional baby food production in Asia and
Eastern Europe.
Danone was the world's leading producer of dairy products in 2006,
accounting for 5.1 per cent of total global sales, narrowly ahead
of multinational rivals Nestle and Kraft Foods, says market analyst
Euromonitor.
Italy-based Parmalat, one of the world's largest dairy companies,
yesterday reported a 5.4 per cent increase in sales boosted by
rising demand for its products in the nine months ended 30
September.
Sales of organic milk within the UK are up by about 11
per cent to 200m litres a year, boosted by studies linking the
product with a number of health benefits, a leading dairy
processor claims.
Helped by a global shortage of raw milk, Robert Wiseman Dairies
beat back increased input costs to raise margins and
boost turnover by 12.2 per cent for the six months ended 29
September.
Unilever has sold the soft cheese brand Boursin to Le Groupe Bel
for €400m as part of its plan to shed peripheral brands and
re-ignite its top line growth.
Japan-based brewer Kirin is branching out from its core beverage
lines into health and nutrition with the acquisition of one of the
Asia and Oceania region's leading dairy companies.
The UK division of dairy cooperative Arla Foods is expected to
exceed last year's record earnings, the company said this week,
in announcing the group was doubling its profit forecast
for next year to DKK600m (€80m).
Danone and Numico will be forced to offload some of their European
operations to go ahead with their planned merger into one of the
world's leading nutrition companies.
Israel-based Willi-Food hopes to step up its presence in Europe and
Russia by forming two new joint ventures to meet growing respective
demand for kosher and premium cheeses.
With all the threats facing food and beverage production -- from
contamination in the food chain, to rising input prices --
there appears to be one menace that towers above the rest, namely
'The Weather'.
Fines imposed on EU member states for exceeding milk production
quotas in the latest marketing year are down 38 per cent from last
season as the bloc continues to cut its reliance on subsidies.
Danone is a step nearer to going it alone in the Chinese dairy
market after selling its entire 20.01 per cent stake in
Shanghai-based Bright Dairy and Food and terminating a distribution
agreement for its products.
Russian healthy food producers Wimm-Bill-Dann has increased its
presence by taking over a dairy producer in Georgia, which will
help supply markets in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Arla Foods will further reduce its stake in the cheese
market with the announcement today of the sale of its Delimo
import arm to France-based Lactalis.
Frutarom today announced it had agreed to
acquire German-based Gewurzmuller Group for $67m (€47m), a
move to further expand the company's presence in the
global market for flavours and functional ingredients.
Tetra Pak has expanded its total packaging output in China to 40bn
containers following completion of a €100m plant in a bid
to meet the huge increases in demand for dairy products.
US group Dean Foods yesterday announced plans for an immediate cut
in its workforce, after higher costs for ingredients like milk
forced it to lower its full year earnings expectations.
Higher pricing and an increasing focus on healthier products
continues to ensure that Dairy Crest remains in line to achieve its
full year sales targets, the company announced today.
The average price paid to European farmers for their milk is up 12
per cent on the previous year to €30.66 per 100kg, according to a
new market report.
Revenues for Italian group Parmalat were up 2.8 per cent to €1.8bn
for the first fiscal half, on the back of continued expansion into
high value dairy production.
International dairy and nutritional ingredients group Glanbia is
making its way into the North American omega-3 market with the
acquisition of the Canadian nutritionals business, Pizzey's
Milling.
Vivartia posted a 15.6 per cent increase in revenues to €517m, as
it continues to restructure its operations in South East Europe,
the company reported in on a pro-forma basis.
Half-year revenues were up by 40 per cent to $1.14bn (€838m) for
leading Russian dairy and beverage group Wimm-Bill-Dann as the
company continued to profit from its expansion into Eastern
European markets.
Greek dairy group Vivartia has sold its entire 24 per cent stake in
ice cream producer and retailer Dodoni to the National Bank of
Greece Group as it continues to restructure its operations.
Unilever today announced it will cut
20,000 jobs, accounting for 11 per cent of its total
workforce, as part
of a new "aggressive" growth strategy
for its operations.
Danone has increased like-for-like sales by 8.2 per cent to €7.5bn
during the first half of the year as it continues to refocus its
operations towards health and nutrition.