Barry Callebaut envisages expansion in South-eastern Europe
Cocoa and chocolate specialist Barry Callebaut Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Serbia and the City of Novi Sad to construct its first chocolate factory in South-eastern Europe.
Barry Callebaut establishes traceability for a third of its global cocoa volume
Cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut has established traceability for a third of its global cocoa volume.
The cocoa giant has prioritized the establishment of traceability in its Ghanaian and Ivorian supply chains, the world’s two largest cocoa producers. Under the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI), a multi-stakeholder initiative dedicated to ending cocoa farming induced deforestation in Ghana and Ivory Coast, Barry Callebaut committed to delivering 100 % traceability in its supply chains in both countries. In line with this commitment, the group has mapped 100 % of the farms and warehouses in its direct supply chain at risk of sourcing from protected forest areas.
The company has mapped all cocoa farms within 5 km from protected forest areas and all cocoa warehouses within 25 km from protected forest areas. By the end of this year, it will have mapped all the farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana it sources from, establishing 100 % traceability for its direct supply chain. Overall, this means that 100 % of the cocoa volume sourced in Ghana and 40 percent of the cocoa volume sourced in Ivory Coast by Barry Callebaut is traceable.
Strengthening bakery: Orkla continues acquisition spree with Zeelandia Sweden purchase
Orkla is expanding its acquisitions further with its latest deal to buy Zeelandia Sweden AB, a supplier of margarine, vegetable oils and bakery ingredients to the Swedish market.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Orkla Food Ingredients AS, Orkla has entered into an agreement to purchase Zeelandia, which says this decision fits within the company’s business strategy to build leading and sustainable market positions in Europe. Zeelandia Sweden AB has 60 employees and had a turnover of EUR 22.9 m in 2018.
The company has most of its sales in Sweden, and exports to Finland, the Baltics and Norway, primarily selling to the bakery industry. Following the transaction, the company’s name will be changed to Credin Sverige AB, and the company will become part of Credin Group.
Givaudan: sales spike in the first quarter of 2019
Six months after completing the acquisition of Naturex, flavour and fragrance giant Givaudan has posted its 2019 first-quarter sales of CHF 1,525 m, an increase of 6.3 % on the previous year.
Givaudan says it started the year with good business momentum with growth achieved across all product segments and geographies, as well as key strategic focus areas of naturals, health and well-being and active beauty. The Flavour Division sales performance was driven by “new wins and good business momentum across all regions”. In the key strategic focus areas of the 2020 strategy sales growth continued to be strong, with double-digit growth in Health and Well-being and single-digit growth in Naturals.
Barry Callebaut: strong profitability and accelerating growth momentum
The Barry Callebaut Group saw an acceleration in sales volume growth in the second quarter (+ 3.1%), leading to a 2.4% increase in sales volume to 1.047 m tonnes in the first six months of fiscal year 2018/19.
Lesaffre Baking Center aids customers in complete industrial scale-ups
Lesaffre has officially opened its first Baking Center that is fully dedicated to industrial customers, where tests can be run at full scale.
“This Baking Center brings ease and convenience for an industrial scale-up,” says Antoine Baule, Lesaffre’s CEO. “The fact that you can choose your new product on this line and then when you go to industrial scale you can launch your product without disruption will help industrial bakers a lot. Customers will go back to their plant with a design, formula and way to run the line, which will already be tested at a large scale. That will reduce the risk of line disruption and cost of development on their own line.”
The choice of machines and the layout make it possible to produce a wide range of products (Kaiser rolls, doughnuts, hamburger buns, sheet dough, co-extruded bakery products, frozen bread, etc.) in an industrial environment. Machinery will be renewed every three to four years to guarantee state-of-the-art technology on a consistent level.
The Baking Center, which came into operation at the beginning of this year, houses an ultra-modern experimental industrial bakery and meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 30 people. The site is positioned as “the interface between technology, innovation and inspiration that combines decades of expert knowledge with state-of-the-art technology.”
Nielsen monitor: slight growth for the start of 2019
German confectionery retailers have started into 2019 with mild revenue growth and equally mild sales volume declines.
Salty snacks kicked off the New Year with the strongest revenue increases of 8.2% up to € 563.4 m. The category baked goods also enjoyed a prosperous start into 2019 with a revenue increase of 4.8% up to € 277.2 m. Nielsen’s market researchers registered a decline of 3.3% down to € 965.4 m for the strongest revenue-driving product group, chocolate products. Sugar confectionery suffered revenue losses of 2.1% down to € 441.5 m. A look at the development of confectionery revenues in the individual sales channels depicts growth in consumer markets (small + 6.1%; large + 2.3%), large supermarkets (+ 2.8%), impulse channels and gas station shops (+ 1.1%).
Schubert surpasses sales mark of 200 million euros for the first time
Gerhard Schubert GmbH continues its positive growth trend: with an increase in sales of 7.3 % and a turnover of EUR 211.5 m, the market leader in top-loading packaging machines successfully closed its 2018 financial year.
This success is not only based on the efforts of 1,332 employees, but also on a consistent growth strategy. Schubert is strengthening its activities in China with the foundation of Schubert Robotics Shanghai, while driving forward future-oriented projects in the realm of digital packaging and the field of robotics.
Peter Gabriel, Commercial Managing Director of Gerhard Schubert GmbH, is very pleased: “We even slightly exceeded our minimum earnings target of seven per cent on total operating performance. In the current year, we are planning further growth to sales of 225 million euros”. The group of companies has also set itself new objectives: in 2019 it could even exceed the turnover mark of EUR 300 m for the first time. Key factors behind the steady upward trend are favourable developments in international markets and continuous investment in new technologies and innovative packaging solutions.
Cargill launches world’s first coatings and fillings for which they source sustainable coconut oil
Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business is the first company to use Rainforest Alliance Certified coconut oil sourced through a mass balance model as an ingredient in its coatings and fillings – responding to consumers’ growing demands for sustainably sourced ingredients.
Inge Demeyere, managing director of Cargill’s chocolate activities in Europe explains the thinking behind this development: “The demand from consumers for sustainably sourced ingredients is well established. Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business is already a leader in implementing standards for cocoa sustainability supporting farmers and their communities through training and expertise with the Cargill Cocoa Promise – so the move to offering coatings and fillings using sustainably sourced coconut oil was a good next step.”
Cargill together with BASF, Procter & Gamble (P&G) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have joined forces in development of a partnership as part of the develoPPP.de program of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Working together to address the challenges facing the coconut supply chain, in 2015 the joint project reached a milestone by pioneering sustainability standards for coconut – producing among the world’s first Rainforest Alliance Certified copra, or dried coconut flesh. Results for 300 coconut producers on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in the Philippines participating in the first wave of the project (2011-2015) have been impressive – with a 15 % increase in their incomes.
