Robert Wiseman Dairies is to cut the price paid to farmers by 2.2p per litre from 1 February.
The market value of cream has dropped since the end of September 2007 by the equivalent of 3.27p on every litre of milk bought by the company. It has been warning for some time that it would not be able to continue this loss. The reality is that the price of cream has fallen from £1,400 per tonne in 2007 to a current value of £800 per tonne – a drop of 43%.
Alberta, Canada-based Bioneutra has applied to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) for European Union Novel Foods approval for a prebiotic, isomalto-oligosaccharide sweetener. Bioneutra’s application indicates it will use powder and syrup forms of isomalto-oligosaccharide as a nutritive sweetener and prebiotic in beverages, cereal products and sugar confectionery as well as nutritionally complete and fortified meal replacement bars and meals.
Kimberly-Clark has posted an 8.1% decrease in its global net profit to £303bn on sales down 3.4% to £3.33bn in its fourth quarter results. The final quarter sales figures dragged down the company's overall performance for the year. In the 12 months to 31 December, although profit fell 7.3%, sales increased 6.3%. The economic downturn had hit the business harder than expected, particularly in Europe and North America, admitted chairman and CEO Thomas J. Falk, citing currency exchange rates, higher manufacturing costs, lower sales volumes and increases in strategic marketing spend.
Sales at PZ Cussons soared 31.5% to £393.8m and pre-tax profits rose 13.5% for the first six months to 30 November. The company said the strengthening dollar versus the pound has proved "favourable," and generated in £40m revenue and £1m operating profits.
Unilever is set to acquire TIGI, the Toni & Guy premium hair care business, for £295m. Adding to a portfolio that includes Silvikrin and Timotei, the deal marks Unilever's first step into hair salon products and includes major names Bed Head, Catwalk and S-Factor. "We already have a strong position in daily hair care and adding the salon brands will further build our position in the hair category," said Vindi Banga, Unilever president, Foods, Home & Personal Care.
Chocolate prices in shops are likely to rise further after wholesale cocoa prices in London jumped last week above the key £2,000-a-tonne level for the first time in almost 24 years. Premium brands, which typically use more cocoa, are likely to be the worst affected as any further rise in prices is expected to exacerbate the shift by consumers to cheaper brands.
Alberta, Canada-based Bioneutra has applied to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) for European Union Novel Foods approval for a prebiotic, isomalto-oligosaccharide sweetener. Bioneutra’s application indicates it will use powder and syrup forms of isomalto-oligosaccharide as a nutritive sweetener and prebiotic in beverages, cereal products and sugar confectionery as well as nutritionally complete and fortified meal replacement bars and meals.
Kimberly-Clark has posted an 8.1% decrease in its global net profit to £303bn on sales down 3.4% to £3.33bn in its fourth quarter results. The final quarter sales figures dragged down the company's overall performance for the year. In the 12 months to 31 December, although profit fell 7.3%, sales increased 6.3%. The economic downturn had hit the business harder than expected, particularly in Europe and North America, admitted chairman and CEO Thomas J. Falk, citing currency exchange rates, higher manufacturing costs, lower sales volumes and increases in strategic marketing spend.
Sales at PZ Cussons soared 31.5% to £393.8m and pre-tax profits rose 13.5% for the first six months to 30 November. The company said the strengthening dollar versus the pound has proved "favourable," and generated in £40m revenue and £1m operating profits.
Unilever is set to acquire TIGI, the Toni & Guy premium hair care business, for £295m. Adding to a portfolio that includes Silvikrin and Timotei, the deal marks Unilever's first step into hair salon products and includes major names Bed Head, Catwalk and S-Factor. "We already have a strong position in daily hair care and adding the salon brands will further build our position in the hair category," said Vindi Banga, Unilever president, Foods, Home & Personal Care.
Chocolate prices in shops are likely to rise further after wholesale cocoa prices in London jumped last week above the key £2,000-a-tonne level for the first time in almost 24 years. Premium brands, which typically use more cocoa, are likely to be the worst affected as any further rise in prices is expected to exacerbate the shift by consumers to cheaper brands.
The world faces "the real risk of a food crunch" if governments do not take immediate action to address the agricultural impact of climate change and water scarcity, according to an authoritative report out.
Chatham House, the London-based think-tank, suggests the recent fall in food prices is only temporary and that they are set to resume an upward trend once the world emerges from the current downturn.The price of a staple basket of food has risen by 16% in the last year, new figures suggest, while consumers look set to switch brands in 2009 to save money.
Everyone from government to grocers seems to have their own idea of how best to inform consumers about foods’ nutritional content, but a labeling free-for-all has resulted in a clamor of nutrition labels which are actually getting in the way of comprehension. On any supermarket aisle, there’s a wall of colorful packaging, each one doing its best to attract attention. Health logos and claims jostle with nutrition tables and color codes. Grocery shopping should not be this confusing. More on this story
Unilever has agreed to buy the TIGI professional hair product business and its supporting Advanced Education Academies for £294m in cash. Vindi Banga, Unilever President, Foods, Home & Personal Care, said, ‘We already have a strong position in daily hair care and adding the salon brands will further build our position in the hair category. We can bring our world-class R&D expertise to it and offer greater opportunity for geographical expansion. TIGI's strength in styling, and its fashion and beauty expertise will also help us raise the bar on innovation for our existing hair brands.'
In the UK, confectionery giant Nestlé has opened an Insight and Learning Centre, to help its retail clients understand how the layout of shelves in their stores can be tailored to shoppers’ needs. Based in Nestlé’s factory in York, the £1m centre includes mock-ups of supermarkets, convenience stores, individual shops and cash-and-carry layouts to demonstrate how consumers shop. Shelves at the centre are stocked not only with Nestlé products, but also with those of its competitors. Retail clients will be invited to visit the centre to improve their understanding of the drivers of confectionery purchase. A spokesperson for the firm explained that confectionery products are bought for different reasons –hunger, pleasure, or as a gift – and that the way people shop is different in a supermarket from a convenience store.
