Market talk had suggested that by taking over Bunge ADM is looking to make a come back in the sugarcane sector in Brazil, acquiring its 21 million mt of cane crushing capacity in the country. (ADM sold its lone mill in Brazil in 2016.) Several sources have now said, however, that ADM is instead focusing on Bunge’s soybean crushing operations in Argentina. Not only is ADM the only major trade house not to have such assets there, but the plants and elevators are ideally located next to the deep port of Parana, giving it easy access to the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, ADM and Cargill will team up to manage a soybean crushing plant in Egypt, supplying beans and commercialising soymeal and oil domestically. The plant, currently under expansion, should reduce the need for Egypt to import meal.
Separately, Cargill has been working with Precision BioSciences and succeeded in cutting down the saturated fat levels in canola oil by 35% to 4.5%.
Olam reported a 159.3% higher net profit of SGD 265.1 million (USD 201.16 million) during Oct-Dec 2017, thanks in part to the sale of its sugar refining business in Indonesia. Excluding “one-time factors,” the company reported a 7.2% increase in earnings, although that was capped by a disappointing coffee crop from South and Central America.
Danone France is planning to go completely organic by 2025. It will give financial support of EUR 5 million (USD 6.1 million) to 2,300 farmers this year to help them adopt organic farming. The group plans to do this through a crowdfunding platform that will allow the general public to lend money at a rate of 2-4%. The platform will also allow farmers to ask for donations, giving in exchange products such as honey.
An Abiove economist has said it will take over 20 years for Brazil to modernise its railway system, roads and waterways and that the country’s poor logistics, especially the bad roads, are slowing the growth of agriculture exports. This could be an issue as the country is expected to export as much corn as the US by 2040, from just 25% currently. In the short term, however, investments by China will help improve the infrastructure.
In the US, several leading food companies such as B&G Foods Inc, General Mills and Tyson Foods said they are considering a price hike to offset rising transportation expenses. A host of factors like rising global crude prices, rail and road companies not expanding capacity and a scarcity of drivers have driven up transportation costs.
Meanwhile, the USDA has asked the government to create a separate immigration route for farm workers to reduce problems linked to labour shortage.
However, the need for field labour could be significantly reduced in the medium term. UK-company Hands Free Hectare has successfully harvested two crops (wheat and barley) without anyone having to go into the field.
The world is expected to consume more and more dairy products rich in fat. A food industry advisor explained that the dairy industry, along with a flurry of studies published over the last few years, have successfully convinced consumers that dairy-fat is not, after all, bad for you. A USDA report forecast this shift will continue to boost demand for butter and cream, which should support prices for full fat dairy. The price of butter rallied to EUR 6,500/mt in September, from EUR 2,350/mt six months before.
However, this is coming at a high environmental cost. The WWF is calling on the Netherlands – the world’s fifth largest exporter of dairy products in the world – to reduce it’s cow population by 40% over the next 10 years. The 1.8 million cows produce so much dung that farmers are having to dump it illegally, contaminating groundwater and air.
While the USDA noted an oversupply of skim milk powder which is often used in infant formula, Danone announced it was doubling the capacity at its New Zealand infant formula plant. The company said its main export market continues to be Australia, but it wants to capture growing demand from China.
An investigation by The Guardian and Save the Children showed that formula milk companies have been using various methods to encourage women in the poorest strata of the Philippines to choose formula milk over breastfeeding. Four companies – including Nestle – were found to be deliberately misleading mothers in hospitals and other forums.
The UK is facing a meat safety crisis. An investigation conducted by the Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that two-thirds of audited plants broke food safety rules. The Food Safety Authority has set up a national review of meat processing plants, but there is concern that part of the problem is within the existing monitoring system.
A similar investigation in the US found government records which showed that 47 plants had breached safety standards by, for example, using meat from sick and contaminated animals. Overall, Americans are 10 times more likely to fall sick from food poisoning that people in the UK, according to the organisation Sustain. Campaigners are worried that the situation could get worse if the government accepts a proposal – currently under consideration – to increase the speed at which pigs can be slaughtered.
NGOs are putting pressure on the EU to step up its efforts to eliminate deforestation from the agricultural supply chains. This follows a report published last week which showed that the world’s trading system continue to be major contributors to deforestation – something many stakeholders had committed to work against. The report suggests a focus on palm oil and cocoa. However, sources say the EU’s action plan on deforestation in agriculture, which was due this year, is likely to be delayed.
Using data from fishing cargoes, scientists have found that industrial fishing is being carried out in over half of our planet’s oceans. Put into perspective, fishing pollutes four times more than agriculture even though it represents only 1.2% of human’s global caloric production. Over 85% of the fishing in high seas is conducted by just five countries: China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. You can check out the map here.
Millenials are the biggest contributors to Australia’s weekly AUD 76.4 million food waste. A recent report found that households with the most millenials tended to waste more, which could also be the result of buying fresher food and cooking more at home. A similar study conducted last year by Sainsbury in the UK also found that the younger generator wasted more food. It argued that lack of planning and an attitude of “living to eat” rather than “eating to live” was to blame.
Powered by ECRUU
