News

Buderim Group Ltd has completed the acquisition of Royal Hawaiian Orchards™, the macadamia nut brand by Royal Hawaiian Macadamia Nut, Inc. (RHO, LP), and merged it with retail macadamia nut brand, MacFarms.  

The merger poises Buderim to become the largest marketer of macadamia nuts in the continental U.S. Currently, Royal Hawaiian Orchards and Buderim are Hawaii’s largest and second largest macadamia nut orchard owners, respectively, and are responsible for more than 65% of macadamia nut production in the U.S. combined.

Buderim Group Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes confectionery ginger and other ginger-based products to industrial, food service, and retail customers worldwide. It operates through Ginger, Macadamias, and Tourism segments. The company was formerly known as Buderim Ginger Ltd and changed its name to Buderim Group Ltd in November 2015. Buderim Group Ltd was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Milton, Australia.

To meet growing consumer demand, Mondelez International has inaugu­rated its newest "Factory of the Future", a state-of-the-art biscuit manufacturing plant in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The company invested USD 90 m in the facility that produces iconic brands, ­including Oreo cookies and Barni soft cakes, for local consumers and serves as a hub for exports to the Gulf region, the Levant and Africa, reducing delivery costs and improv- ing product freshness. The 250,000 m² manu­facturing facility has a production ­capacity of nearly 45,000 tonnes per year.

“The Middle East and Africa are priority markets for us, and we're confident in our selection of Bahrain as the preferred location for our plant, due to its business-friendly environment, skilled local workforce and excellent transport links, all of which will be instrumental to the success of our growth plans,“ said Maurizio Brusadelli, EVP & President, Asia ­Pacific, Middle East and ­Africa at Mondelez Inter­national.

The Malaysian company PureCircle has reported that the use of stevia leaf sweetener in food products and beverages continues to expand. Stevia is a zero-calorie sweetener made from a plant, while other major zero-calorie or high-intensity sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame potassium) are not.

Global launches of beverage and food products containing stevia have grown steadily since 2012, and in 2017 alone, increased more than +10 % vs. 2016, the company notes, citing data from Mintel. Launches of beverage products containing stevia grew 11 % from 2016 to 2017, while launches of food products containing stevia grew 10 % from 2016 to 2017. Top categories for launches containing stevia in 2017 included snacks, juice drinks, dairy, carbonated soft drinks and confectionery.

The usage of stevia leaf sweeteners has grown dramatically, PureCircle points out. In 2012, stevia was used in 16 % of food and beverage products launched with high intensity or diet sweeteners. By 2017, that number had risen to 28 %. Aspartame, however, is becoming less widely used. In 2012, aspartame was used in 36 % of new foods and beverages utilizing high intensity sweeteners. By 2017, that number was down to 25 %. This means, looking at foods and beverages launched with high intensity sweeteners in 2017, plant-based stevia was used more than aspartame.

Sonoco, one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, announced the start of Robert C. Tiede’s tenure as the new President and CEO of Sonoco. Tiede replaces the retiring Jack Sanders, who served as President and CEO since 2013. He is the ninth CEO of the 119-year-old company.

Robert C. Tiede said: “This is an exciting time for Sonoco as we continue to evolve our portfolio and geographic footprint in ways that help us serve our purpose, Better Packaging. Better Life. while delivering value to our shareholders, our customers and our teammates.”

Prior to being named CEO, Tiede served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Sonoco, with global leadership, sales and operating responsibility for all of the Company’s diversified consumer, industrial and protective packaging businesses.

Claudia Pedretti-Lenz will join Barry Callebaut as Head Investor Relations effective July 1, 2018, coming from J. Stern & Co (Switzerland) AG where she led the opening of their new branch in Zurich. From 2013 to 2017, she worked at Bank Morgan Stanley AG in Zurich and last held the function of Co-Head Client Service Desk during the Wind-Down of the Swiss Private Wealth Management.

After 8 years as Head of Investor Relations, Evelyn Nassar will move into the new role of Director Cocoa Horizons within Barry Callebaut as of May 1, 2018. In this function, she will be responsible for driving the growth of Cocoa Horizons as the most comprehensive sustainability accreditation program in the cocoa and chocolate industry.

Nestlé today unveiled KitKat Ruby to chocolate lovers in Europe and Germany after its successful debut in Japan and Korea in January this year. KitKat Ruby offers consumers a new way of savouring chocolate. KitKat Ruby is manufactured in Hamburg, Germany using UTZ-certified cocoa beans. The concern invested € 40 m in the expansion and modernization of its production plant in Hamburg.

KitKat Ruby will be available in major retailers across Europe, starting with the UK next week, to meet the growing demands of consumers who enjoy experimenting with new trends. The crispy four-finger wafer bar is coated with Ruby chocolate, derived from Ruby cocoa beans and processed by Barry Callebaut, which has an intense berry-fruitiness taste without the addition of any flavour or colour.

Leveraging its speed and agility in innovation, Nestlé is first to produce and launch this fourth type of chocolate — after dark, milk and white — to consumers worldwide through its global brand Nestlé KitKat. "Our teams globally took just four months to develop the first product after Ruby chocolate was revealed. We are very pleased with the speed and innovation KitKat Ruby brings and are now excited to introduce it to more consumers in Europe," said Alexander von Maillot, Global Head of Confectionery.

Thorsten Kühn has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of the Schur Flexibles Group, a company based in Wiener Neudorf/Austria specialising in packaging solutions for the food, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. The 45-year old, who holds a degree in Business Administration, draws on a wealth of experience in the packaging industry: Take for example Bilcare Research AG, Switzerland, a manufacturer of PVC and aluminium foils with 1,800 employees and revenues of EUR 265 m, which he successfully transformed in his role of CEO over the period from 2011. Under Thorsten Kühn’s leadership, the company expanded globally in the market for packaging for the pharmaceutical industry and raised its profitability fivefold. Between 1998 and 2011, Kühn worked in various management functions at Klöckner Pentaplast, a leading manufacturer of plastic films for the pharmaceutical, food, electronics, medical devices and consumer goods packaging. Among other tasks, Kühn was responsible as Vice President for the European PET business and as Regional Head for the Asian business which he significantly expanded.

Thorsten Kühn: “Schur Flexibles is fast, highly innovative, covers the entire value chain and provides customers with one-stop shopping. The company has written an impressive growth story since 2012 which we will take forward together.”

The Schur Flexibles Group (around 1,500 employees), founded in 2012, is expected to raise its revenues to more than EUR 400 m in 2018 (2017: EUR 350 m). Recently, Schur Flexibles reinforced its position in the premium packaging solutions business for the confectionery and tea market through three acquisitions and will remain open for further acquisitions in the future.