Food companies are expecting a tough year in 2005 with competition
and price pressures in the food chain rising to the surface as the
key issues, reports Lindsey Partos.
Kraft Foods, the world's biggest food company, has announced its US
operation is to provide consumers with more nutritional information
about its products - a precedent already set by its UK division,
Tom Armitage reports.
Aluminium packaging giant Alcan is investing $55 million to build
and equip two new Russian plants - a clear indication that foreign
firms are beginning to take notice of the Russian packaging market,
writes Anthony Fletcher.
As food ingredients suppliers take a stake in the burgeoning
Chinese market new figures released by the United Nations confirm
foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Asia and the Pacific
rose by a massive 55 per cent in 2004 on...
The UK Milk Development Council has received a £1.5 million (€2.1
million) grant from the European Commission which it will use to
tackle the growing misconceptions surrounding dairy consumption,
Tom Armitage reports.
A leading animal sciences group has sold the gene rights of a new
breed of dairy cattle to a UK distributor which it claims will give
farmers the opportunity to increase their milk yields as well as
prevent the proliferation of cattle...
Dutch health insurer VGZ is to reimburse policyholders who buy
Unilever's range of cholesterol-lowering margarine, yoghurt and
milk products in a bid to reduce medical costs related to heart
disease, it said yesterday.
Dutch dairy firm Campina will pull out of dairy processing and
distribution in Poland to focus on the emerging Polish market for
branded, consumer products, reports Chris Mercer.
Against the backdrop of soaring prices for locust bean gum, getting
the best price for the customer is a challenge hydrocolloid
producers must meet if they want to ensure ongoing contracts,
reports Lindsey Partos.
Nearly half of the world's vanillin supplies are sourced from China
but since tighter production rules arrived there a few years ago
there are now only two major Chinese producers left in the country,
reports Lindsey Partos....
The United Nations' food agency has singled out burgeoning demand
in Asia as contributing to the overall international price increase
of dairy products, but remains confident that prices will begin to
stabilise in 2005, Tom Armitage...
A new polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)-based paper that is claimed to
withstand highly caustic and hot sterilisation solutions has been
developed for filtration operations in the dairy industry.
Robert Wiseman Dairies announced earlier this week that it is to
provisionally slash the amount it pays for UK dairy farmers' milk,
a move which will undoubtedly lead to further price skirmishes in
the UK milk market, as Tom...
The first ever EU conference held in a new Member State took place
last week, focusing on control with remote sensing (CwRS) of
area-based subsidies, an innovative way of assessing agricultural
subsidies.
Emerging research on lactic acid bacteria is set to offer food
companies a new method of vitamin enrichment that allows them to
get around consumer concerns over added ingredients, writes
Dominique Patton.
Dairy farmers have traditionally used protein supplements as a
means of bolstering milk yields among lactating dairy cattle, but a
new report concludes that excessive protein consumption can in fact
reduce milk yields, as well as...
Mounting pressure from both the domestic UK market and the
increasingly competitive European dairy sector, has recently led a
number of British milk producers to successfully lower their unit
costs of milk production, but will this...
Fortification is a growing trend in soft drinks and the dairy
sector, and played a role in 8 per cent of all new food and drink
products introduced last year, according to David Jago, director of
Mintel's Global New Products...
Azerbaijan's largest dairy company is set to double its production
capacity after securing outside funding worth nearly €4.4 million
to help the firm hold off competition from imports and safeguard
domestic farmers' incomes,...
Dairy Australia, the Australian dairy industry association, has
hailed innovative dairy categories for driving domestic growth, but
warns that the performance of traditional dairy categories is still
weak, hampered by declining demand...
A new study designed to help packaging firms appreciate the key
factors influencing the integrity of heat processed rigid and
flexible containers has been published.
Rachel's Organic, a leading UK producer of organic dairy products,
says that the growing appetite of British consumers for healthy,
innovative products is helping sustain growth in the burgeoning UK
organic dairy sector. Tom...
The US probiotic industry needs to step up a gear and finance
further research in order to win over consumer confidence by
providing scientific proof of its health benefits, according to
research published by the International Food...
An increasing number of dairy farmers are turning towards tailored
technology-based solutions to help improve their farming techniques
and productivity levels, as Tom Armitage reports.
Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy co-operative, is looking to exploit
a growing market for intellectual property (IP) licensing by
creating a new formulated milk business to join its line of
value-added subsidiaries, reports Tom Armitage.
A German dairy processor has attempted to shake up the complacency
of the sector by investing in more innovative packaging and
aggressively seeking to modernise its production operations.
French dairy giant Danone is poised to benefit from bullish growth
in the Asia-Pacific region. Analysts say that a recent investor
trip by company executives to China confirms its intentions to
expand aggressively in the region, adding...
American Dairy, one of the leading producers and distributors of
milk powder and soybean products, has said that it is well poised
to expand into China's emerging dairy industry, claiming that it
has succeeded where many of the...
The Milk Development Council (MDC), the government-appointed
marketing body for the milk industry, claims that confidence among
British dairy farmers is on the increase, following months of
unrest and speculation over the stability...
Fonterra intends to make an off market takeover offer for all of
the shares of National Foods Limited [NFD] in a bid to open up the
lucrative Asian food and beverage market, writes Anthony
Fletcher.
Nearly 150,000 visitors streamed through the doors of Europe's
major food fair SIAL 2004 in Paris last week that presented more
than 460 product innovations from 40 countries.
Post-harvest spoilage and waste are costing the dairy sectors of
East Africa and the Near East up to $90 million a year, claims a
report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations (FAO). Tom Armitage reports.
Thin, flexible and easy to handle - that is the major food
packaging trend emerging on the Polish market, helped along by
rising sales of dairy products and new hygiene laws on baked goods
in shops, writes Chris Mercer.
Fonterra has built a new processing plant in New Zealand as part of
its strategy to move its dairy business away from commodification
and towards producing more value-added products.
China has become the second largest importer of packaging machinery
in the world, a topic that will be highlighted this week at
Interfood Shanghai 2004.
Spain's long-running yoghurt battle took another twist this week
when the country's advertising regulator quashed a bid by the
Spanish Yoghurt Manufacturers' Association (AEFY) to stop the Leche
Pascual dairy from using...
A change in attitudes to dairy products is helping to turn around
sales in Australia, according to a survey by the country's dairy
industry association.
Products developed by the latest entrant to the UK's low-carb
market shows that the regime is being given a less extreme twist
than the popular Atkins diet originating from across the Atlantic.
Probiotic drinking yoghurt has been the fastest growing dairy
product in the last five years, thanks to its health benefits and
convenient format that even allows it to cross sector boundaries to
compete with soft drinks.
Teenagers frequently opt for healthier drinks if given a choice,
claims the UK's food watchdog, after testing the response to
vending machines that offer fruit juices and milk in British
schools.
An editorial in the British Medical Journal this month that
concludes criticisms of aspartame are 'unfounded' adds fuel to the
ongoing debate surrounding this popular sweetener used widely in
food and beverage applications.
The need of ingredients and equipment suppliers to reach Russian
food manufacturers is becoming increasingly urgent, but in the
absence of established B2B advertising channels, few avenues have
been open. Now a new alliance between...
Steep declines in the number of milk cattle in Russia is having
knock-on effect on the country's dairy industry, which is being
forced to import increasing amounts of milk from other, more
expensive sources. But calls for greater...
The loss from a security breach of just one shipping container
could cost companies up to $1 trillion, according to an alarming
new report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.