Japan’s earthquake disaster, Christchurch recovery
Posted - March 27, 2011
Japan’s earthquake disaster, Christchurch recovery
Japanese workers are making progress in cooling nuclear reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, two weeks after Japan’s biggest-ever earthquake struck, triggering a tsunami that killed thousands of people and knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant. On March 21 Japan’s government decided to ban the sale of raw milk from the country’s northeast Fukushima prefecture and of spinach in neighbouring Ibaraki prefecture, after some food from near the nuclear power station was found to have higher-than- normal radiation, but not at levels harmful to human health. In Tokyo, residents emptied supermarket shelves and steeled themselves for more power outages.
Residents of the town of Litate in Fukushima prefecture were asked to refrain from drinking tap water because of the presence of radioactive iodine, Kyodo News said. The Japanese government said samples of tap water taken March 18 in Tokyo and five nearby prefectures showed traces of radiation that were within acceptable levels, and that the Japanese government would increase monitoring of tap water.
The National Police Agency in Tokyo said Japan’s death toll from the March 11 quake and tsunami rose to 8,450 as of 9 p.m. March 20, with a further 12,931 people missing. Supplies of food, water and other essentials are increasing, with about 118,000 emergency personnel on the ground, said Kirsten Mildren, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Japan.
Meanwhile, the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch, the gateway to New Zealand’s southern island on February 22, 2011, has claimed 166 people, with 41 people identified by March 7, while the death toll is expected to go over 200. The financial cost of the earthquake is estimated at $10-$15 billion dollars, while up to 60% of the CBD buildings may have to be demolished.
Farmer-owned New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra said its farmers around Christchurch had largely come through the earthquake unscathed. There was no major damage to Fonterra sites and the co-op was collecting and processing milk as normal. Fonterra is the largest processor of milk in the world and value added dairy ingredients such as specialty organic and conventional ingredients.
Fonterra confirmed that the Fonterra Earthquake Relief Fund will contribute more than $3 million to the Canterbury earthquake relief effort. Chief executive Andrew Ferrier said donations were still coming in. “Fonterra matched the first $1 million dollar-for-dollar, and we are going to continue doing that,” he said. Mr Ferrier said he was humbled by the way shareholders and staff from around the world had pitched in for those affected by the earthquake. The company had earlier launched a Fonterra Earthquake Relief Fund to enable its 10,500 farmer-shareholders and 16,000 staff to make personal donations. Fonterra was delivering UHT milk and bottled water to relief centres in Christchurch as it is needed.
Consumers back ANZ Fairtrade, new logo launched
Posted - March 27, 2011
Consumers back ANZ Fairtrade, new logo launched
Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand (Fairtrade ANZ) announced in February that retail sales of Fairtrade Certified products in Australia and New Zealand jumped by almost 200% between 2009 and 2010 to reach almost AU$150 million. The Fairtrade ANZ organisation also announced the introduction of a new name, Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand (Fairtrade ANZ) and a new appearance for Fairtrade Labelling in the region as it improves its global coordination and speaks more clearly as one international movement. The new Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand corporate mark is being featured on a range of communications, including the website.
Fairtrade ANZ said there was an explosion in Fairtrade Certified chocolate sales with more than 150% growth. Chocolate took over from coffee as Australia’s biggest selling Fairtrade certified product. This surge came about after Cadbury and Whittakers announced their commitments to Fairtrade with the introduction of the Fairtrade Certified Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate range, and large Creamy Milk blocks respectively. Meanwhile, Scarborough Fair increased its range of 100% Fairtrade chocolate products.
Coffee remains the biggest selling Fairtrade Certified product in New Zealand. In Australia, tea sales grew strongly by 45%. Meanwhile the number of Fairtrade licensed businesses across both countries increased to 250 - a 15% increase on 2009. Consumer recognition of the Fairtrade Label is increasing significantly year on year reaching 37% in Australia and 51% in New Zealand in 2010. The range of Fairtrade Certified products available in ANZ expanded to include coffee, tea, chocolate and cocoa products, sports balls, cotton, rice, sugar and quinoa. Recent introductions were nuts, muffins, cakes, bananas and chocolate.
Even without the addition of the Cadbury Dairy Milk and Whittakers chocolate brands last year, operations manager (Australia) at Fairtrade ANZ Carley Swan said overall Fairtrade retail sales in Australia and New Zealand enjoyed continued growth since 2005 when the Fairtrade Certified products entered the market. Average annual growth rates have ranged between 38-64%.
Fairtrade products are now more widely available at chain supermarkets and independents, health food and organic stores, and coffee chains. “Both the Australian and New Zealand markets have seen continued support for Fairtrade products by major retailers,” Ms Swan said. “In Australia, each of the leading retailers, ALDI, Coles and Woolworths now have a good selection of Fairtrade Certified tea, coffee, hot chocolate and chocolate products.”
Ms Swan advised that in early 2010 Mobium research found 90% of adult consumers wanted retailers to offer eco-labelled products, but that they were also sceptical of eco claims made by companies, reiterating the importance of educating consumers about the real benefits labelled products do provide. “Fairtrade ANZ is continuing to increase consumer awareness of the role Fairtrade Certification plays in global sustainable development,” she said.
Japan has had a national Fairtrade Labelling Initiative for a number of years. According to FLO, in 2009 Japan had Fairtrade retail sales of an estimated 11.283 million Euro. Within Asia, South Korea in particular has very strong Fairtrade sales and Fairtrade products are also sold in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
More supermarkets, products drive USA Fairtrade sales
Posted - March 27, 2011
More supermarkets, products drive USA Fairtrade sales
Fair Trade USA (formerly TransFair USA), the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, reported new data at Natural Products Expo West in March to confirm that mainstream consumers are increasing their commitment to Fair Trade faster than ever. Sales of Fair Trade Certified
Woolworths growth slows, Coles launches PL war
Posted - March 27, 2011
Woolworths growth slows, Coles launches PL war
Australia’s Woolworths Limited announced its half-year results for the 27 weeks ended 2 January 2011 with group sales up 4.0% to $28.3 billion (excluding petrol, up 3.8%) and a 6.0% increase in net profit after tax to $1,161.7bn. Woolworths has ramped up new store formats in Australia and New Zealand and aims to focus on improving range, merchandising and formats whilst re-investing strongly in price and accelerating its new cost reduction program.
However, Woolworth
New stores, upgrades boost Dairy Farm’s outlook
Posted - March 27, 2011
New stores, upgrades boost Dairy Farm’s outlook
Diversified pan-Asian retailer Dairy Farm International announced its 2010 results on March 3 for the year ended December 31, 2010, with sales, including 100% of associates, up 13% to US$9.1 billion. Underlying profit was up 13% to $US410 million. Chairman of Dairy Farm Simon Keswick said: “The group’s prospects for 2011 are positive as the economic environments in most of the countries where it operates are expected to remain favourable.”
Dairy Farm said it continued to expand organically and through acquisitions in 2010, increasing its total number of outlets by 315 to 5,386. In the larger format segment, the group operated 113 Giant hypermarkets at year end, comprising 67 in Malaysia, 38 in Indonesia, seven in Singapore and one in Brunei.
Overall sales in North Asia increased by 9%, with Mannings health and beauty stores in Hong Kong adding 29 stores and achieving excellent results, Wellcome supermarkets traded reasonably, while 7-Eleven had a more challenging year. In Taiwan, Wellcome’s earnings fell in a difficult market segment. In southern China, 7-Eleven was adversely affected by restrictions on the sale of tobacco products, while Mannings continued to expand its health & beauty business on the Mainland and added 43 outlets to bring its network to 164.
In South Asia, sales increased by 12% while operating profit rose by 7%. The buoyant economy in Singapore enabled the Group’s operations to achieve further growth in sales and trading profit despite some demand moving from supermarkets to dining-out. In the Indian joint ventures, the 73-outlet health and beauty business is now trading profitably, while the operating losses have been reduced in the Foodworld supermarket operation. In Singapore, Cold Storage and Shop N Save supermarkets performed satisfactorily in 2010, achieving higher sales and profit. Ten supermarkets were added during the year, including eight acquired by Shop N Save.
Sales in East Asia increased by 22% and operating profit rose by 27%. In Malaysia, the Guardian health and beauty stores produced an excellent result with 30 stores added in 2010. There was a satisfactory performance from the Giant and Cold Storage hypermarket and supermarket business, while the country network grew to over 500 stores. All formats performed well in Indonesia, with particularly strong results from Giant hypermarkets, and the total number of stores increased to 489 with further expansion planned in 2011. The first two supermarkets were opened in Brunei to complement the existing hypermarket and health and beauty formats.
Group chief executive Michael Kok said Dairy Farm achieved further growth in sales and earnings in each of its three operating regions in 2010. Among the important developments in 2010 were: completion of the acquisitions of 16 hypermarkets and supermarkets in Malaysia and eight supermarkets in Singapore; the successful implementation of the SAP merchandising systems in Malaysia, while the IT modernization program continued in Indonesia; and further investment in private label development and supply chain management to deliver additional value.
China to overtake USA as top grocery market
Posted - March 27, 2011
China to overtake USA as top grocery market
Brazil, Russia, India and China are all set to be in the top five grocery markets for the first time by 2015 according to latest figures released by international food and grocery analysts IGD. China’s strong growth is set to continue with its grocery market forecast to overtake the United States in 2012, largely due to the impact of the prolonged recession in the US and quick recovery in China. This will make it the largest grocery market in the world and in 2015 it will be worth
More quality visitors, strong interest lifts BioFach exhibitors
Posted - March 27, 2011
More quality visitors, strong interest lifts BioFach exhibitors
BioFach, the World Organic Trade Fair, and Vivaness, the Trade Fair for Natural Personal Care and Wellness, welcomed 44,592 visitors (2010: 43,669) to the fairgrounds in Nuremberg on February 16-19, while exhibitor numbers at 2554 were very close to last year. The professional audience from 131 countries (2010: 119) were delighted with the four-day display of innovative organic food, eco-textiles and natural cosmetics, the organisers said.
The internationality of the visitors rose to 43 %. Besides Germany with 24,954 trade buyers, the following countries were represented particularly strongly: Austria (1,795), Italy (1,417), France (1,344), the Netherlands (1,233) and Switzerland (906). The 2,544 exhibitors at the exhibition duo travelled from 86 countries and 70% were international. Besides Germany with 752 exhibitors, Italy (419), Spain (181), France (184), Austria (104) and the Netherlands (86) were convincing with their strong contingents of exhibitors.
Claus R
India to relax FDI, sustainable food & organics drive
Posted - March 27, 2011
India to relax FDI, sustainable food & organics drive
Speculation increased in February that the Indian government is moving to a relaxation of foreign direct investment (FDI) rules prohibiting foreign ownership in multi-brand retailing such as supermarkets as major international retailers line up to invest in the country. Foreign direct investment in India fell by more than 31% in 2010 not helped by uncertainties in getting regulatory approvals and government policies.
In the Indian Union Budget on February 28, the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said discussions are underway to further liberalise the FDI policy, and that this has become important considering the large funding requirement in the infrastructure sector and the slowdown in FDI inflow.
The Carrefour Group announced the opening of its first cash & carry store in India in the Shahadra neighbourhood east of New Delhi under the name ‘Carrefour Wholesale Cash & Carry’ on December 30. The 5200m2 store will range over 10,000 SKUs in food and non-food. Under India’s regulation, Cash & Carry is the only format the foreign groups are authorised to develop solely.
In February, Marks & Spencer said Reliance India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between M&S and India’s Reliance Retail, announced senior appointments for the company’s retail and marketing division, and property and projects to drive the store opening program for the firm. Metro Group-owned Metro Cash & Carry’s CEO Eckhard Cordes said in an interview in New Delhi that India, China and Russia will be the top three markets for the German company in the next few years and that it plans 50 cash and carry outlets in India.
McCormick of the USA, a global leader in the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of spices, herbs, and flavourings has bought 26% of shares from Eastern Condiments based in Kerala, India for $US35 million, seen as McCormick’s first step towards entering the Indian market. Tetra Pak announced in February the breaking of ground on a 100 million euro state-of-the-art packaging material factory in Chakan, near Pune. The plant is designed to meet growing demand for carton packaged dairy beverages and fruit-based drinks in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Also announced in India’s Budget was a National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture to maximize crop yields, meet the growing demand for food grains and sustain agricultural productivity in the long run. “There has been deterioration in soil health due to removal of crop residues and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers, aided by distorted prices. To address these issues, the Government proposes to promote organic farming methods, combining modern technology with traditional farming practices like green manuring, biological pest control and weed management,” the Budget said. The Sikkim government announced ambitious plans to make the state fully organic by 2015 to create value in domestic and international markets.
Announced in February was that India will be Country of the Year in 2012 at BioFach, Nuremberg. Indian export promotion agency APEDA has exhibited at BioFach for 10 years and said India has about $US150 million in export sales of organics and $US30 million in organic sales in the domestic market. Signing the contract during the 2011 exhibition were Asit Tripathy, managing director of APEDA and Bernd A. Diederichs, managing director of NurnbergMesse. Also exhibiting at BioFach 2011 was Suminter India Organics, the country’s leading organic certifier, which is based in Mumbai. In other news, the Indian state of Bihar has designed a roadmap for organic agriculture and will select one village in every district as an organic village for the purposes of organic farming.
French JV gears up for EU stevia launch
Posted - March 27, 2011
French JV gears up for EU stevia launch
Announced in March was a French joint venture for stevia between a French sugar producer, a flavour firm, and an ingredients supplier that will offer manufacturers a ‘leaf to spoon’ service for the sweetener and gain more leverage when marketing stevia ingredients to major manufacturers. This is despite the EU not granting approval for natural sweeteners made from the stevia leaf, widely expected to be some time in 2011.
Stevia Internacional Europe is being formed by ingredients supplier Lavoll
SunOpta grows sales, expands sunflower products
Posted - March 27, 2011
SunOpta grows sales, expands sunflower products
Canada’s largest natural, organic and specialty food supplier SunOpta announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 1, 2011 and reported a 9.8% lift in sales revenues of $US898.9 million for the fiscal 2010 year versus revenues of $819.0 million in 2009. After adjusting for movements in foreign exchange rates, commodity related pricing and the impact of acquisitions, revenues increased approximately 10.6% on a consolidated basis.
Steve Bromley, president and CEO of SunOpta said the company was very pleased with its fourth quarter and fiscal 2010 results. He said: “The fiscal 2010 results represent record net earnings and record operating income for the Company. Our earnings from operations have shown significant improvement and reflect our continued efforts to improve returns in our core operating segments. Over the course of 2010 we completed a number of strategic transactions, acquiring two core businesses and disposing of two non-core businesses, all in support of our mission to build a focused global leader in natural and organic foods.”
For fiscal 2010, the company realized operating income of $41.4 million or 4.6% of revenues versus operating income in the prior year of $12.2 million or 1.5% of revenues. On a GAAP basis, the company realized net income of $61.1 million versus a net loss in 2009 of $6.8 million. Included in the 2010 results was a net gain after tax on the sale of the Canadian Food Distribution assets of $11.9 million (to UNFI) and a net gain after tax on the sale of SunOpta BioProcess Inc. of $34.9 million, offset by certain non-cash goodwill, impairment charges and other items of $6.9 million after tax.
For the fourth quarter of 2010 the company realized sales revenues of $230.4 million versus fourth quarter 2009 revenues of $199.3 million, a year over year increase of 15.6%. For the fourth quarter the company reported net income on a GAAP basis of $1.9 million versus a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2009 of $2.2 million.
In November, SunOpta acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Dahlgren & Company, Inc., headquartered in Crookston, Minnesota for about $80 million. The combination of the Dahlgren business with SunOpta’s existing confection sunflower business is expected to be synergistic and will create one of the largest confection sunflower businesses in the world, with extensive vertically integrated operating capabilities via operations in North America and China. Dahlgren is an integrated processor and global supplier of confection sunflower seed products and serves a number of sectors including the snack food, bakery, food ingredients and bird food industries. Approximately 40% of its products are marketed internationally to customers in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada and South America and to customers in every state in the United States.
On December 14, SunOpta’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary SunOpta Fruit Group Inc. completed the acquisition of the assets and business of Edner of Nevada, Inc. Edner produces a wide variety of nutritious portable foods such as nutrition bars and grains and fruit based snack bars serving the fast growing wholesome and convenient healthy snacks category from its 104,000 square foot facility, located in Carson City, Nevada.
