Zenith International news and views

Investing in fruit

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:01:00 GMT

The level of investment by multinationals in emerging markets is often measured in billions. Only rarely do I see billions being invested in one region of one country.

Coca-Cola has already invested $400 million in Florida over the past five years. Now it has agreed to buy all the fruit produced by 25,000 acres of new orange trees for the next 20 years, representing a value of $2,000 million.

That’s a substantial pledge by any measure.

Importance of good timing

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:53:00 GMT

So many great product innovations fail because they are ahead of their time. Most aren’t given a second chance. Maybe the time has come for mid-calorie carbonates after earlier false dawns.

Zenith’s UK Soft Drinks Industry Conference last week had its highest ever attendance, despite companies generally cutting back on events. We had a tremendous programme, but were also extremely fortunate with our timing. The day coincided with important news from numerous speakers:

• Coca-Cola’s global commitment to new initiatives on tackling obesity
• The UK Government’s publication of evidence to support a soft drinks sustainability roadmap
• The British Soft Drinks Association’s publication of its 2013 UK Soft Drinks Report
• Innocent founder Richard Reed’s handover to a new team and offer to back other entrepreneurs through jamjar investments.

47 ACQUISITIONS IN APRIL

Thu, 09 May 2013 08:39:00 GMT

April was a busy month for food and drink mergers and acquisitions, with 47 appearing on the bevblog.net database, which has a link on the right of this page. Four featured values in excess of $1,000 million:

$13,600 million for Thermo Fisher Scientific to buy Life Technologies, both based in the United States

€7,500 million on Joh A Benckiser’s purchase of D E Master Blenders 1753, formerly known as Douwe Egberts

$2,950 million for Archer Daniels Midland to acquire Australia’s GrainCorp

€2,300 million sales for Refresco’s European soft drinks merger with Gerber Emig.

The sectors covered were very diverse with 11 transactions in alcohol, 7 in soft drinks, 6 in dairy, 4 in meat and 3 each in hot drinks, ingredients and packaging.

23 took place within national borders and 24 were international. 26 countries were involved overall. As ever the United States featured in the most at 16, followed by France on 8, the United Kingdom on 7, the Netherlands on 5 and Germany on 4.

Canada water pure

Tue, 07 May 2013 07:54:00 GMT

The Montreal Gazette recently contained some useful facts about bottled water in Canada:

91% of bottled water consumers in Quebec drink tap water too. They have tap water at home and bottled water on the go.

Over 90% of Canada’s bottled water is from deep springs rather than municipal water.

The average bottle travels 250 kilometres from source to shelf, compared to over 2,400 kilometres for fresh fruit and vegetables or most packaged consumer goods.

70% of plastic beverage containers in Quebec are recycled.

Mineral water to market country

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Which country is this ? Its recent advertisement in the Financial Times promoted seven attributes.

Three were economic and social – easy access, low tax and good healthcare.

Four were about natural resources – mineral waters, mineral springs, spa tradition and excellent climate.

I don’t suppose you guessed. It was Bulgaria.

World economy in one chart

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:01:00 GMT

I’ve waited a long time for this. Checking each week. Now it’s back. My favourite chart.

I like it because it summarises the state of the world in a single line. The line shows overall global economic growth.

It was steady at +4% in the run up to 2007. Then it fell to -3% in mid 2008, recovering remarkably quickly to +4% again by mid-2009. Ever since, however, it has slipped progressively to just +2% by the end of 2012.

Here it is, with acknowledgement to The Economist magazine on 30th March 2013.

95% glass recycling possible

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Belgium already does it, reaching 98.65% in 2011.

Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have all achieved rates above 90%.

The European Union average has topped 70% for the first time.

This is really good news from the European Glass Container Federation and the benefits are substantial:

More than 7 million tonnes of CO₂ saved, equal to taking 4 million cars off the road.
Over 11 million tonnes collected across Europe in 2011.
80% of glass collected goes back into new glass bottles.

Unfortunately, some countries’ recycling figures are still rubbish. Cyprus has yet to beat 35%, Romania and Turkey are below 30% and Malta is reportedly under 10%.

Glass half full or glass half empty?

Saving water

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

It’s a while since I wrote a blog about water footprints – the total amount of water needed for a product, including raw materials. The comparisons are always staggering, even these in gallons from Loch Ness Water Gardens and Creative Commons via 2degrees. For reference, a full bathtub is deemed to be 50 gallons.

So, for a …	you need… gallons
Cup of tea	8
Slice of wheat bread	10.6
Apple	18.5
Glass of beer	19.8
10 minute low flow shower	25
Glass of wine	31.7
Washing machine load	40
Glass of orange juice	45
Egg	53
Glass of milk	62.5
Sunday newspaper	80
1lb of chicken	519
Cotton shirt	700
1lb of beef	1850
1lb of coffee	2500

Apparently, if you replace 1 cup of coffee a day with tea, you could save 10,950 gallons a year; orange juice with water, 16,717 gallons; and milk with beer 15,582 gallons – though I doubt the realism or wisdom of that last example.

What’s wrong with exercise ?

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Do you ever read something that’s obvious when you see it, but you’ve never seen it put so clearly before ?

The March 2013 editorial of Health Club Management effectively says that people will never take enough exercise until the fitness industry shows some consistency.

It gives these strikingly different recent media headlines:

‘Four workouts a week may be better than six,’ New York Times

’10 minute workout’, Huffington Post

‘Get in shape with just two minutes of exercise a day’, Express

‘Long periods of gentle exercise are more beneficial than a high-intensity workout,’ Daily Mail

As the Editor says: “The fitness sector has, as yet, failed to cement a clear idea in people’s minds of how much and how often they should be exercising, and what sort of activity they should do.” She does have a point.

5 a day – who’s kidding who ?

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Which is more shocking ? A higher proportion of British people consume 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day than any other European country. or Only 22% of Britons consume their 5 a day.

Both statements are true and are drawn from a Nielsen survey of 29,000 internet respondents across 58 countries.

Perhaps even less likely, only 8% of Europeans on average consume their 5 a day, from 18% of Irish and 14% of Swiss to 1% of Polish and Portuguese, with Croations rounded down to 0%.

Eat better, save the planet ?

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:01:00 GMT

Well no, actually. At least, not quite.

This is the main conclusion from another study published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It was conducted in France and based on the diets of nearly 2,000 adults, whose consumption was divided into almost 400 food and drink categories, each of which was assessed for greenhouse gas emissions.

As expected, red meat was found to account for three times the emissions of fruit and vegetables per 100 kcal. But confectionery and snacks had some of the lowest emissions per 100 kcal, due to ease of transportation and storage as well as lack of waste.

Among the other observations I noted:

Dairy products, poultry, eggs and pork have similar emissions per 100 kcal to fruit and vegetables.

It is necessary to eat far more low energy food to meet daily energy needs.

The healthiest diets – those high in fruit, vegetables and fish – account for similar emissions to the least healthy diets.

Overall, the “results seem to contradict the widely held view that diets that are good for health are also good for the planet.”

34 acquisitions in March

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:01:00 GMT

Was it a quieter month in March ? There were fewer big names, but there were still some substantial deals, including two over $1,000 million.

Cargill, ConAgra and CHS joined forces to form Ardent Mills with $4,300 million sales.
Rhone Capital paid $1,050 million for CSM’s bakery supplies business.

Out of the 34 March transactions recorded on the bevblog.net database, 9 were in alcohol, 7 in soft drinks, 6 in ingredients, 2 in dairy and 2 in meat.

Most took place within national borders – 12 in the United States and 4 in the United Kingdom.

Among the international transfers, France made 4 sales, the Netherlands 3 and the United States 2.

Milk beats soy

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

It’s official. Dairy protein is now accepted as being superior to plant protein.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has endorsed a new method of protein quality measurement, called the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score or DIAAS.

This scores dairy protein 10-30% higher than the highest refined soy isolate, supporting those who always believed in the stronger bio-availability of dairy protein compared with plant protein.

More specifically, whole milk powder comes out at 1.22, compared with peas at 0.64 and wheat at 0.40.

The findings have immediately been championed by the International Dairy Federation and Global Dairy Platform. It seems that science is continuing to move back in favour of dairy.

Danone top for nutrition

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

I was impressed when I read about the new Access to Nutrition Index, which ranks 25 of the world’s top food and drink companies on their contribution to tackling obesity and poor nutrition. Three things particularly struck me:

• Its attention to good nutrition as well as obesity.
• Its backing by the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and financial institutions managing over $2,600 billion in funds.
• Its awarding Danone a score of 6.3 out of 10.

All companies will want to aim higher, but they have very varied portfolios and this is a campaigning index.

It was disappointing, but not surprising, that only Unilever and Nestlé also scored over 6.

The next three were PepsiCo, Kraft and Mexico’s Bimbo. I imagined Barilla and Campbell would have come higher than 12=. I did not expect Lactalis and FrieslandCampina to lag behind Mars and Hershey.

Beware ice and lemon with drinks

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

When you travel a lot, as I do, you have to be extra careful of your stomach. For me, that includes special caution about ice in drinks and the skins of fruit.

Yet even in the United States, it seems, there could be risks lurking in your glass.

A recent academic study of 67 lemons from 21 restaurants sampled during 43 visits found that 70% were contaminated with a total of 25 microbial species. Health code regulations require staff to use tongs or gloves, but apparently they rarely do.

It so happens that I very seldom have any drink with ice or lemon and certainly not a sparkling mineral water. Just as well.

For more information about the research, go to aloving@pccc.edu.

Sustainable diet includes milk

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Recent UK research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that a more sustainable British diet could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36%.

A realistic and healthy diet using 52 out of 82 food groups for an adult woman aged between 19 and 50 “can be achieved without eliminating meat or dairy products or increasing the cost to the consumer.”

This is all the more important because food production accounts for 18-20% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions.

US recycling credit

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:01:00 GMT

I’ve criticised poor performance in the past, so now I’d better praise real progress.

The latest figures from the National Association for PET Container Resources show that 38.6% of single-serve plastic water bottles in the United States were recycled in 2011, a commendable 20% increase on the 32.2% achieved in 2010 and double the rate of seven years before.

Also of significance, the average weight of a standard size 50cl PET bottle has fallen below 10 grams for the first time, 47.8% less than in 2000, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation.

If you can bear another statistic, PET for bottled water accounts for under 1% of all plastic produced in the United States and only one third of 1% of all US waste, reports the US Environment Protection Agency. Oh, that’s two statistics. Better be accurate. Sorry.

More on the French ‘drive’ phenomenon

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

They are beginning to appear in other countries, but France has a clear lead. The number there doubled in 2011 and doubled again to 2,000 in 2012.

Intermarché alone opened 300 collect by car outlets last year. Leclerc ‘drives’ made sales worth 940 million euros.

17% of ‘drive’ customers make all their beverage purchases through them.

Definitely worth watching, but ‘drives’ appear less conducive to innovation.

Crazy calcium cacophony

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:01:00 GMT

On the same day last month, I read summaries of three new research studies on calcium – all pointing to completely contradictory conclusions:

• Calcium and vitamin D supplements can reduce hip fractures by almost 40%, according to new findings from the US Women’s Health Initiative and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• High calcium intakes from food and supplements double the risk of heart disease death in women, says new Swedish research published in the British Medical Journal.

• High calcium intakes from supplements increase the risk of heart disease in men and not women, argues a team from the US National Cancer Institute at Bethesda and published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Is it any wonder consumers are confused about what to believe on the best diet for good health?

30 acquisitions in February

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Not so many transactions for the bevblog.net database in February, but two were very large indeed.

The biggest was the $28,000 million takeover of Heinz by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazil’s 3G. The other was a $2,900 million deal between Constellation Brands and Anheuser-Busch InBev in order to satisfy US regulatory authorities about the previously announced $20,100 million Anheuser-Busch InBev purchase of Modelo in Mexico.

Amongst February’s total of 30, 9 were in alcohol, 5 in equipment and packaging, 4 in dairy, 3 in soft drinks and 3 in ingredients.

17 countries participated, led as ever by the United States on 16 and followed by the United Kingdom on 4, then Canada, France and Italy on 3 each.