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Functional ingredients producer Beneo has announced a 50 % production capacity increase at its facility in Wijgmaal/Belgium, to cater for rising customer demand for rice starches. A two-stage expansion process, valued at EUR 50 m, will lead to increased capacity by March 2022. The investment will increase the number of production lines from two to three.

Rice starch is capable of filling up all of the micropores on the surface of coatings due to its very fine particle size. This so-called “smoothing effect” is especially beneficial for confectionery manufacturers during the production process, since it ensures a stable result where edges do not crack or splinter. Additionally, rice starch allows for the preservation of a brilliant white colour for months.

The supplier leverages the colour-preserving functionalities of rice starch, which translate into improved coatings performance for confectionery manufacturers switching out titanium dioxide for a cleaner label ingredient. Roland Vanhoegaerden, Operations Managing Director Speciality Rice Ingredients at Beneo, notes: “One of the key reasons for our confidence is the clean label trend, where food manufacturers are moving away from artificial additives and replacing them with natural alternatives, such as rice starch.” Beneo forecasts that the growing demand for natural and clean label products, in applications such as coated confectionery, will intensify in major existing markets, including Europe and the Americas.

The challenges and effects of Covid-19 are clearly evident at all levels, in all markets, industries and sectors.   In the context of many trade fairs in the food technology section worldwide postponed due to Covid-19, the partners of ProFood Tech, PMMI, IDFA and Koelnmesse therefore decided, following extensive consideration, to cancel the trade fair edition planned for 2021 in Chicago/USA (13 to 15 April 2021) in the customary form at an early date, in order to make an active contribution to the planning security of the exhibitors in these difficult times.

The worsening wave of Covid-19 cases in significant global economies increased concerns among cocoa traders. Cocoa prices are going lower as the resurgence of coronavirus around the world threatens global chocolate demand. At the last trading session, which was in September, cocoa prices closed at USD 2,164.50 per 1000 kg. As a result of weakening cocoa demand globally, the price of September cocoa futures dropped to USD 2,159 per 1000 kg, nearing a one-year decrease in cocoa price, before stabilizing above its support levels.

The Italian automatic packaging machinery manufacturers are the only Italian capital goods producers to report growth in revenues in 2019 (+2.2 %), thereby confirming the world leadership position of a niche mechanical engineering sector which for the first time in its history has broken the EUR 8 bn revenue barrier. The number of operative companies decreased in 2019 (down 2.4 % to 616) as a result of the series of M&As underway in the sector, while the number of employees rose to 33,304 (+2.1 %).

Over the last eight years (2012 to 2019), packaging machinery manufacturers have seen an almost 50 % increase in turnover (from EUR 5.5 to 8.04 bn), 40 % growth in exports (from EUR 4.56 to 6.35 bn) and the creation of 7,000 new jobs.

79 % of the sector’s turnover was generated abroad, amounting to EUR 6.35 bn, an increase of 2.3 % compared to 2018. This export growth is half a percentage point higher than that of domestic Italian sales (+1.8 % in 2019 to EUR 1.69 bn).

The European Union remains the main destination area for Italian packaging machinery and accounts for 37.5 % of total turnover (EUR 2,383 m) including sales in Italy, followed in second place by Asia with a value of EUR 1,402 m and a 22.1 % share, then North America in third place with EUR 814 m (12.8 %). With respect to 2018, non-EU Europe (EUR 637 m; 10 % of the total) has overtaken South America (EUR 559 m; 8.8 %).

In the breakdown of turnover amongst the various client sectors, food and beverage maintained the previous year’s dominant position in 2019, when it accounted for 56 % of total turnover. More specifically, food alone accounted for 29.6 % of total sales (EUR 2,377 m).

Following the Vitafoods Virtual Expo 2020, which will take place from 7 to 11 September 2020, Informa Markets will present the global Vitafoods Virtual Summit (15 to 17 September 2020). The event will give attendees the opportunity to dive deeper into key industry topics, as well as learn from and network with the world’s leading nutraceutical, supplement and functional food industry experts. Covering personalized nutrition, digestive health and CBD, each themed half-day event will host an interactive workshop, in addition to Q&As, roundtable and panel discussions, as well as speed networking events.

Chris Lee, Managing Director, Health and Nutrition Network, Europe, at Informa Markets, says: “The Vitafoods Virtual Expo and Vitafoods Virtual Summit will provide the entire nutraceutical supply chain with interactive online platforms to network, share knowledge and drive innovation in an evolving commercial landscape. Anticipated to run annually alongside our traditional in-person trade shows, these additions to our offering will help further facilitate dialogues, on the topics that matter the most for today and years to come, all-year-round.”

The issue of deforestation for palm oil production is widely known. Still, a new study from the University of Exeter/UK says coconut oil threatens more species per litre produced than palm or other vegetable oils. The researchers use this example to highlight the difficulties of “conscientious consumption.” However, the authors emphasize that the objective of the study is not to add coconut to the growing list of products that consumers should avoid. Indeed, they note that olives and other crops also raise concerns.

According to the study, deforestation related to coconut oil production affects 20 threatened plant and animal species per million litres produced. This is higher than other oil-producing crops, such as palm (3.8 species per million litres), olive (4.1) and soybean (1.3).

The study shows that the main reason for the high number of species affected by coconut is that the crop is mostly grown on tropical islands with rich diversity and many unique species. The researchers flag that consumers lack objective guidance on the environmental impacts of crop production, undermining their ability to make informed decisions.

The Barry Callebaut Group saw its good growth momentum of the first six months impacted by Covid-19 with volumes declining in the third quarter (ended May 31, 2020) by 14.3%. This led to an overall decline in the Group’s sales volume of 1.3% to 1.569 m tonnes in the first nine months of fiscal year 2019/20. Sales volume in the chocolate business declined by 14.1% in the third quarter, leading to a slight decline of 1.4% for the first nine months. The underlying global chocolate confectionery market in the first nine months was flat (0.0%; source: Nielsen volume growth excluding e-commerce, September 2019 to April 2020 – 25 countries, data subject to adjustment to match Barry Callebaut’s reporting period; Nielsen data only partially reflects the out-of-home and impulse consumption, which was heavily impacted by the lockdowns due to Covid-19). Global Cocoa volumes were down 14.6% in the third quarter and about flat for the nine-month period under review (- 0.7%). Sales revenue in the first nine months amounted to CHF 5.2 bn, an increase of 0.4% in local currencies (- 4.4% in CHF).
In June the Group saw a gradual sales volume recovery, as governments started to lift their Covid-19 measures. These early signs of recovery are visible both in Food Manufacturers and Gourmet & Specialties, albeit at a different pace.
Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: “As anticipated in April, Covid-19 lockdowns across the globe impacted our sales volume in the third quarter, and herewith the good momentum of the first six months of fiscal year 2019/20. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the precautionary measures we put in place early on allowed us to preserve business continuity and maintain a high service level for our customers worldwide, whilst protecting the health of our employees and the communities we operate in. We expect to emerge from the crisis with even closer relationships with our customers and suppliers, with fresh insights into innovative ways of doing business and a solid financial basis.”

Südzucker`s consolidated revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2020/21 (1 March to 31 May 2020) amounted to € 1.669 bn (previous year: € 1.680 bn), thus remaining at the previous year's level. While the CropEnergies segment's revenues declined sharply and those of the sugar and fruit segments were slightly lower, revenues in the special products segment rose moderately. According to the company, group EBITDA rose significantly by € 17 m to € 134 m (previous year: € 117 m). The consolidated group operating result climbed substantially to € 61 m (previous year: € 47 m). The decline in operating result reported in the CropEnergies and fruit segments was more than offset by the reduction of the loss in the sugar segment and improved results by the special products segment.
In the first quarter the sugar segment's revenues fell slightly to € 565 m (previous year: € 581 m). The revenue decline was driven by a significantly lower sales volume. This is partly due to reduced sugar production during the 2019 campaign. Furthermore, lower demand from the sugar processing industry as a result of measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic is increasingly overshadowing the positive short-term impetus from panic buying in the retail sector at the beginning of the fiscal year.
The segment was able to significantly trim its operating loss to - € 15 m (previous year: - € 36 m) as budgeted. The improvement was driven mainly by higher sugar sales revenues due to price increases since the beginning of the 2019/20 sugar marketing year, which more than offset lower sales volumes and higher production costs.