DSM has said that it will not pass on rising costs to end markets
straight away, despite an otherwise excellent Q2 blighted across
the board by yet more increases in raw material and energy prices
stemming from political tensions.
The chairman of Kraft Foods, the world's second biggest food
company, Roger Deromedi, has launched an attack on EU and US trade
barriers that are driving up the price of commodity ingredients
such as sugar and coffee.
Food and beverage firms making premium products will cope best with
the current surge in price of both Chinese and imported sugar, with
higher margins to cover the rise in costs.
Commoditisation and the dominance of price over all other
considerations has driven hydrocolloid prices downwards for the
last 20 years, according to an industry expert.
Tate & Lyle's European food and industrial ingredients division
proposed increase of 10 to 15 per cent on new contracts for certain
products highlights again the impact of rocketing energy prices on
the ingredients market.
National Starch's plan to increase the cost of its European
starches by up to ten per cent reflects growing industry concern
over rocketing energy prices.
Major food grade carrageenan supplier FMC BioPolymer passes
spiralling energy prices onto the market, announcing a price hike
for its pharmaceutical and food brand products by 5 to 10 per cent.
Supply problems in Asia - mostly as a result of the political and
economic fallout of December's devastating tidal wave - have not as
yet hit prices for key herbs and spices imported into Russia,
according to the company Vremea....
A Russian New Year favourite, Abkhazian mandarins, have finally
returned to shop shelves, but they cost twice as much as they used
to, writes Angela Drujinina.
Hungarian food canner Globus has dropped into the red in the third
quarter of 2004, with pressure on prices and the sale of a
production facility contributing to the poor performance. But a
steady move in Hungary towards higher added-value...
Lindt & Sprüngli, the Swiss confectionery group, has ended the
first half of 2004 in the black - the first time the company has
completed the first six months of the year in profit. Increased
marketing expenditure - helped by...
The world's number two vitamin maker BASF opened a new production
plant for the chemical citral yesterday, the key building block for
vitamins A and E, as well as the carotenoids beta-carotene and
canthaxanthin.
Efforts by the Spanish government to counter what it believes are
excessive price increases for a number of fresh products appear to
be paying off, with a sharp fall in price for chicken, seafood,
green beans and lettuce. But other...
The Spanish authorities look set to introduce dual labelling for a
number of non-processed food products in order to provide clear
information to consumers regarding the difference between the farm
gate and retail price - yet another...
The impact of a recent, and ongoing, drought in Australia, will
soon be felt by retailers and the consumer, predicts market analyst
Euromonitor. And there is no let up in sight as El Niño, widely
responsible for the ongoing adverse...
