Chocolate companies should rethink cocoa sustainability programs to reverse low adoption rates for training and technology, says The Scientific Committee of the International Symposium on Cocoa Research.
Greencore’s food-to-go strategy is working well, both at home and in the US, claims ceo Patrick Coveney, as the manufacturer posted half-year group revenue up by 7.5% to £691.6M.
Mondelēz will bear the brunt of any potential financial sanctions if a charge of manipulating wheat prices brought yesterday by The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) succeeds.
Financial speculation is the main root cause of short-term price spikes in commodity markets, but could be avoided by forging closer inter-governmental links, say experts.
Guar gum could be relisted on India’s futures market if a positive committee decision is reached next week, according to the country’s commodity markets regulator.
Reports that a company owned by Cargill and ABF bought all the available UK feed wheat last month has renewed calls for tighter regulation of commodity markets.
Some regulation of commodities futures markets could be beneficial – but should stop short of tight limits or an outright ban, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said in a new policy brief.
The wheat futures market, used by wheat farmers and processors to manage price risk, could lose its relevance unless efforts are made by the Chicago Board of Trade to bridge the wide gap between futures and cash prices, finds a new study.
Lower futures prices for wheat herald a shaving of input costs for bakers and millers, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the near-bankcruptcy of global insurer AIG arguably hitting agricultural quotations downwards.
Latest figures from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
suggest that there will be a rise in world production of cocoa
compared to last year and a rise, though smaller, in world
grindings.
Global chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut said that recent
acquisitions had boosted its six month figures, with net profit
showing double-digit growth. But low cocoa prices affected
activities at the processing arm of the company.
