EBIT increased in 2021 by CHF12.9 million (4.8%) to CHF 284.1 million. Net income increased by 7.0% to CHF216.7 million.

While business in Switzerland declined slightly for Emmi after the pandemic-related growth in 2020, the momentum in foreign markets and in the strategic niches such as desserts continued. Emmi’s brand concepts once again asserted themselves as growth drivers – above all Emmi Caffè Latte and Kaltbach Käse.

In the Swiss dairy group’s most important expansion market, the US, Emmi has strengthened the strategically important mainstay of speciality cheeses with the acquisition of the Athenos business (number one in the US feta market) and Emmi also expects additional export opportunities for Swiss cheese. Another important key is the development of Emmi Dessert USA, established in 2020, and its integration into the Emmi dessert network.

For 2022, Emmi is assuming organic growth in sales at group level, which, based on inflation, should be slightly at 2.5% to 3.5%. While sales in Switzerland will again fall slightly (-1% and 0%), Emmi expects continued strong organic growth in international business. Due to inflation, this should be above the medium-term expectations in Europe at 3% to 5% and in the Americas, at 6% to 8%.

In terms of the operating result, Emmi expects an increase to CHF290 million to CHF305 million at EBIT level, while the net profit margin should be between 5% and 5.5%.

Uncertainties about macroeconomic developments and accelerating inflationary pressure are likely to persist at the dairy group in 2022. Likewise the sluggish recovery in the food service sector.

Overall, the pressure on margins will increase significantly again. Against this background, consistent implementation of the strategy and further targeted investments in growth and efficiency gains remain key for the Swiss dairy group. Where it is economically unavoidable, Emmi will not be able to avoid passing on part of these additional costs.

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Over the next five years, Arla looks to grow its UK business through a combination of branded and added-value private label innovation in prioritised categories like liquid milk, yogurts, butter and spreads, milk-based beverages and cheese. The ambition is to grow the branded share of the revenue to 45% from 38%.

The company will continue to take an industry lead on data-driven sustainable dairy production that meets the 1.5-degree goal set by the Paris Agreement.

The firm is planning long-term investments in its UK supply chain, key sales channels and market leading brands like Arla Cravendale, Arla B.O.B, Arla Lactofree, Lurpak, Starbucks and Anchor, as it makes clear its plans to become a leading household name.

In the next five years the Arla Group will increase its investments by more than 40% to €4+ billion (around £3.4bn) in sustainability actions, product innovations, capacity expansions and digitalisation. As the single biggest market in Arla’s global business, this will also mean increased investments for Arla’s UK operations, with a focus on efficient and sustainable production and categories and channel opportunities such as added-value milks, foodservice and ecommerce.

As previously announced, Arla also targets more than 50% growth across its UK organic retail and foodservice business in the next five years.

“This growth and value-up ambition is about improving the value of dairy for our consumers through high quality products that meet their demands, for our retail and foodservice customers as we add category value and growth, and for farmers through a sustainable farmgate price,” says Ash Amirahmadi, managing director of Arla Foods UK.

“The milk that goes into products like Cravendale, B.O.B and Lactofree dairy products comes from Arla’s farms, where our owners are already among the most climate efficient dairy farmers in the world, producing milk with around 50% fewer emissions than the global average. But with an ambition to reduce on-farm emissions by an additional 30% by 2030, big investments are still needed on farms. Therefore, in the UK, our Future26 strategy will ruthlessly focus on creating the maximum value of all our milk that enables dairy farmers to invest more in on-farm long-term sustainability measures.”

Improving the profitability of UK liquid milk

Liquid milk will be Arla’s flagship category in developing the sustainability agenda from farm to store. Arla will work with its customers to lead the category sustainability proposition and significantly improve the profitability so that its farmers can cover their increased costs and also invest in the on-farm sustainability agenda.

“For a number of years, we have indicated that the lack of profit in own label liquid milk in the UK is not sustainable. It delivers little to no profitability for farmers and is a category of the UK dairy sector where the market is failing to deliver value for farmers. It is unsustainable. This is made even more critical by the fact that the costs of producing milk is increasing like never before and our farmers are continuing to experience significant inflation,” says Amirahmadi.

Explore export potential

As global demand for dairy continues to outgrow international supply, the value of milk and dairy products on the world market has shifted to a new, sustained high level. This shift means more opportunities for Arla to increase the value from its UK milk and subsequently the returns for the farmers that own the cooperative.

As part of its Future26 strategy, Arla will therefore also explore opportunities to begin exporting raw milk from the UK to supply Arla’s global supply chain and has begun trials to move milk to its European processing sites as a means to supply its growing international sales of sought-after dairy products and to improve the profitability of UK milk for its British and European farmer owners.

Peter Giørtz-Carlsen, executive vice president of Arla Foods Europe comments: “With farmer owners and production sites across Europe we have the opportunity to use the scale of our cooperative to create the most value from the milk produced on our farms. Demand for Arla dairy products is growing in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and West Africa, and so it is natural for us to explore how we can best utilise our European milk pool to meet that demand. This includes the milk from our British farmer owners.”

To deliver the scale of growth across its global and UK strategy, Arla will explore the need to recruit more milk from existing and potentially new farmers, including in the UK.

Global demand for dairy over the next five years is estimated to continue to increase by 2% on year. However, there are clear signals from milk producers around the world that the increases in supply required to meet that rising global demand are now far less certain.

“To meet these future demands and maintain the cost effectiveness of our supply chain, we will welcome and continue to support members who wish to help us grow our milk pool by increasing their supply and growing their businesses sustainably. While we are not recruiting as of now, we will also investigate opportunities to gradually open up for new members or contracted milk who share our farmers’ commitment to producing high quality milk more sustainably,” says Amirahmadi.

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CEO Mauricio Graber says: “Our first quarter came in quite strong on a relatively easy comparable from the first quarter last year, with good performance across our business, especially within health and nutrition. We were able to win new business, launch new products in food cultures and enzymes and drive upselling in key markets such as cheese – all despite the difficulties of Covid-19. We have more product launches scheduled for the current financial year, which will help to ensure that we have a healthy commercial pipeline in the years to come.

“Chr Hansen is on track to execute on its 2025 strategy and become a focused bioscience company based on a unique microbial and fermentation technology platform. This is a year of transition, where we need to secure a successful integration of the acquired businesses. We have started out strong, and we will address any challenges that may arise in those processes head on and with determination. The divestment process of natural colours is also on track and the business delivered as expected.

“Our outlook for 2020/21 remains cautious, and despite Covid-19 we are able to maintain our outlook on all key parameters. This means that we will still outgrow the underlying markets as we strive to deliver industry-leading growth rates.”

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FrieslandCampina Germany says it will focus even more on its brands in the future and will also continue to reduce loss-making products. As a result, cost savings are planned, which will probably affect around 195 employees in Heilbronn and Cologne. At the same time, investments are also being made in these plants.

“Germany is an important strategic home market for FrieslandCampina. This year we achieved significant sales growth. This is the result of our commercial strategy, which we have been successfully implementing for two years and which we will now be implementing more quickly,” says Jan Kruise, managing director FrieslandCampina Germany.

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Millbrook Dairy Company, which was founded in 2019 by respected dairy industry experts, David Evans and Kevin Beer (picture above), supplies a diverse range of the highest quality British and Irish cheese and butter to a growing home market and international customer base in the USA, China, Canada and South America.

The invoice finance facility and loan from Lloyds Bank has helped the Devon business to maintain its operations during the coronavirus crisis, and enabled the firm to accelerate growth and expand its contracts with leading UK and European cheese buyers, including a leading UK player in the retail sector.

It has also allowed Millbrook Dairy Company to develop and launch its own-label product range, which is being specifically targeted to meet an uplift in demand for British products. The business has sold over 10,000 tonnes of cheese since its launch last year, exceeding forecast tonnage by 300%.

Employing seven staff, Millbrook Dairy Company had to furlough one employee at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in April but has since brought the individual back to work to help meet the uplift in demand.

The company has reported inaugural annual turnover of £15.5million, outperforming its initial expectations by more than 500%. The business has now revised its growth forecasts for its second year of trading, with ambitions to reach £19 million turnover.

Kevin Beer, co-founder of Millbrook Dairy Company, said: “David and I have worked in the dairy industry all our lives and it’s great to be able to bring our experience to the fore in our own business. The food and drink industry is already geared towards strict hygiene standards and, in some ways, has seen a smoother transition into the ‘new normal’ since restrictions began to lift, than some sectors.

“No one could predict the effects of the virus initially and throughout that time, Lloyds Bank’s support and its willingness to grow with us as a business has been crucial to our growth trajectory. In the last few weeks, we’ve been finalising a new in-house line of our own cheeses along with a host of new ideas and plans for the next twelve months – we are looking to forge a new future combining growth and innovation.”

Jon Cockbain, relationship manager at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “UK dairy exports have been growing steadily over the past decade and Millbrook Dairy Company has capitalised on this trend to establish a highly successful business from the offset. It’s been encouraging to see the business meet and exceed its maiden growth targets in what’s been a very difficult time and we look forward to continuing to support the dairy in the next phase of its development and beyond.

“Lloyds Bank is proud to help ambitious and pioneering start-up firms like Millbrook Dairy Company, both in the South West and across the UK, surpass their growth targets and deliver innovation and excellent standards as they prosper in the new normal.”

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Key highlights include:

• Group turnover up 4% to £282.8m (2019: £272.3m)
• Operating profit up 4% to £7.5m (2019: £7.2m)
• Net debt down 20% to £33.1m (2019: £41.1m)
• Net assets up 25% to £39.8m (2019: £31.8m)
• Relative milk price continuing to improve for farmer owners
• First member premium paid out post year-end
• First4Milk Pledge launched
• 11% reduction in CO2e emissions year on year
• New share trading platform trades more than 3m shares
• Re-financing completed with Wells Fargo, extending lending facilities to July 2024 demonstrating financial stability of First Milk
• Post year-end acquisition of Lake District Biogas completed

Commenting on the results, chief executive, Shelagh Hancock, said: “The year ending 31 March 2020 saw us deliver business growth and development, further strengthening our financial position, whilst continuing to return value to our farmer members, who own the business. We have also launched our First4Milk Pledge – a broad commitment to sustainable dairy and a celebration of the leading standards on our members’ farms.

“Despite the uncertainties around the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and with Brexit looming, First Milk is well-placed for the future, as a business that has strong collaborative partnerships and the scale to be relevant in the marketplace, whilst remaining agile and adaptable. Our vision for the future remains resolute – we are working together to deliver dairy prosperity.”

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“We have thus laid the foundation for our future success and further growth. I am particularly impressed by our cooperative members, the Arla farmers, who consistently follow this path for more sustainability despite the major economic challenges in the dairy industry,” said Markus Mühleisen, CEO of Arla Foods Germany (pictured).

Contrary to the general market trend, Arla was able to grow its brand business in Germany in 2019 as in the previous two years. Sales in the core brands area rose by 2.6 % (volume-based). Arla Bio was particularly strong again; with a sales increase of 15.2 % in the entire white line. Arla organic fresh milk continued as a segment leader with an increase of 22.4%. Arla Protein products also found more buyers, increasing sales by 5.3%, And Arla Buko also showed a strong 4.2% increase in the highly competitive fresh cheese market.

With the Arla Climate Check Programme, farmers can now determine the carbon footprint of their milk production and identify improvement measures to reduce their carbon emissions with the help of an external sustainability consultant.

The new, revised Arlagården quality programme now places a strong focus on the aspects of climate and nature in addition to the areas of milk quality, food safety and animal welfare. Arla Foods has set itself the goal of reducing its carbon emissions along the entire value chain by 30% by 2030 and to zero by 2050.

Environmentally friendly packaging also contributes to this. In Germany, 205 million Arla cups for yogurt and cream products were converted to recyclable plastics last year.

Arla also supports the “Too Good To Go” campaign. From spring onwards, products from the Arla Skyr and Arla Bio brands will be given the addition of “often longer good” in addition to the best-before dates. More Arla brands will follow.

In 2020 there will also be a strong focus on Arla Skyr with the most extensive investments since the brand was founded. In the skyr sector, Arla is the top brand on the German market. The brand will be further strengthened this year with a large-scale campaign and an improved recipe as well as new products in the snacking area.

In addition, after the successful brand relaunch last year, the regional brand Hansano is to be expanded with innovative products in 2020.

“This year we want to continue our brand growth in order to further increase the value added for the milk of our cooperative members. This is the only way we can pay an appropriate milk allowance in the long term, with which farmers can set up their farms in a sustainable and future-proof manner. We also work with our retail customers on innovative products with higher added value. We are particularly focusing on the new pilot plant in our plant in Upahl, which we started up last autumn,” Mühleisen stated.

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Last year, it processed around 125 million kg of organic cow’s milk and about 10 million kg of organic goat milk.

Managing director Barbara Scheitz said: “Especially with regard to positive sales development and the encouraging development of the organic market, the co-operation between organic farmers and organic dairy is very important.

“The background is sometimes an increasingly recognisable consumer awareness of organic. We as a dairy promoted this in 2019 with various campaigns, such as the series of events on the subject of understanding organic”.

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The new 16,000 square metre addition to the original site will enable Givaudan to meet the growing demand from customers in the food and beverage segments in China. About 95% of the total production capacity will support customers in China. The Nantong manufacturing facility will strengthen the company’s existing capabilities in savoury and culinary flavour blends, snack seasonings, spray dries and liquid flavours. About 150 people are currently employed on site of which a large majority have been recruited locally.

Givaudan’s CEO, Gilles Andrier said: “We are delighted to open the new extended space at our Nantong facility. The total investment we have made on the Nantong site supports our strategic goal of increasing Givaudan’s footprint in high growth markets and capturing growth opportunities. More importantly, the larger Nantong site will now enable Givaudan to collaborate even more closely with our customers to deliver innovative and creative taste solutions to the ever evolving Chinese market.”

Givaudan’s APAC commercial head, flavours, Monila Kothari, underlined the growing importance of the Chinese market to Givaudan: “China’s economy has blossomed quickly over the years and is now the world’s second biggest economy. As a result, we have seen a tremendous growth in the food and beverage industry coming from local players. Given this rapid transformation, we now have a manufacturing facility that can support our business development strategy in China. This expansion will enable us to be agile as we address the needs of our customers in China.”

The manufacturing facility is also making important contributions to Givaudan’s Climate Action Agenda. It was certified as “Environment-friendly Green Enterprise” by the Environment Protection Bureau of Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area (NETDA).

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Customers are increasingly looking for solution providers with a broad portfolio of offerings and deep expertise to support them in delivering differentiating, delicious and sustainable end products to consumers. The combination of DSM’s dairy business and CSK will be even better able to serve those needs, and well-placed to address the fast-growing and attractive dairy cultures markets.

With the acquisition of CSK, DSM will further strengthen its product portfolio and application know-how and expertise in food & beverage, in particular in the complementary areas of taste, texture and bio-preservation solutions for semi-hard cheeses such as Gouda and Edam.

The transaction will include CSK’s state-of-the-art dairy application centre in Wageningen, and its high-tech fermentation facility in Leeuwarden, both in the Netherlands, providing additional production capacity for a range of products in Europe.

Patrick Niels, DSM food specialties president, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming CSK to DSM. Our companies have a great fit together, with shared passion for dairy, skilled and dedicated people, and complementary solution portfolios. This is also a testament to DSM’s commitment to the dairy industry, which we support throughout our Nutrition businesses.

“Today’s dairy needs are constantly changing, and DSM continues to invest in enabling customers to keep satisfying consumer demand, helping them grow their business, while we grow ours in line with our purpose-led, performance-driven strategy. The acquisition of CSK will greatly strengthen our ability to do so.”

Sanne Melles, CEO of Royal CSK, said: “In DSM, we recognise the opportunity for CSK to make the leap forward that we were looking for. Our combined capabilities will accelerate our international growth ambition and enhance our innovative offerings to the dairy industry”.

The two companies share a long history of serving food and beverage markets, with deep roots in the Netherlands. CSK has a track record of Dutch heritage semi-hard cheese cultures of more than 100 years since its foundation in 1905, while in 2019 DSM celebrates 150 years of fermentation and biotechnology innovation at its site in Delft.

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The headquarters includes a new application centre, which is six times larger than Tate & Lyle’s previous centre in Sao Paulo and is amongst the company’s largest globally.

The new application centre will help industry manufacturers develop products that meet increasing consumer preferences for healthier, tastier food and beverages. It includes a pilot plant and state-of-the-art experimental kitchen, which enables customers to design and test different recipe formulations across a range of categories including dairy, beverage and bakery. Other services include sensory analysis and shelf-life testing of products, as well as a room for focus groups with consumers.

As part of Tate & Lyle’s global innovation and application network, the new centre will also benefit from Tate & Lyle’s recent investment in a new recipe development platform. This platform provides one global database for recipe and ingredient knowledge, connecting Tate & Lyle’s technical teams across the world and leading to a more agile response to customers with effective solutions.

Oswaldo Nardinelli, senior vice president and general manager, food & beverage solutions, Latin America, Tate & Lyle, said: “There is an increasing consumer demand in Latin America for more food and beverage options that can support healthier diets and lifestyles, and manufacturers are increasingly looking for new ways to reduce calories, fat and sugar, and enrich products.

“While the need and demand for healthier options is clear, we know that consumers will not compromise on taste and it’s this challenge – making healthy food tastier, and tasty food healthier – that our food scientists and application experts are helping food businesses overcome.

“Our new application centre brings together Tate & Lyle’s cutting-edge science, market leading ingredients and product development capabilities, offering manufacturers across the region a convenient and high quality ‘one-stop-shop’ for formulation.”

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Arla’s mozzarella production in Denmark is concentrated on Branderup and Rødkærsbro Dairies. From here, cheeses are shipped worldwide to 100 countries on all continents. The success is due, among other things, to developing regions around the world demanding more cheese as fast food products such as pizza are growing worldwide. Arla expects the European mozzarella cheese market to increase from around 650,000 tonnes in 2019 to 720,000 tonnes by 2022.

”We are very pleased with the expansion of Branderup Dairy. An expansion of this size places Arla in the forefront as one of the world’s leading producers of mozzarella cheese and gives us the opportunity to build on that position as a supplier of high quality mozzarella in Europe, Asia, USA and the Middle East,” said Sami Naffakh, executive vice president for supply chain.

Production of mozzarella more than doubles

During 2020, Arla will expand the milk weighing capacity, milk silo inventory, milk processing area, storage capacity and add a cheese production line to more than double the annual production to produce 91 million kilos of mozzarella per year.

“We are very proud of our production of high quality mozzarella at Branderup Dairy and it is a very gratifying that a growing demand for our products now means that we must more than double our production. It helps create the future of dairy and I am happy for Arla, the dairy and our farmer owners,” said Rene Nørgaard, senior director of Arla’s mozzarella production.

Arla will also create approximately 25 new jobs in the local market in connection with the increased capacity.

Sustainable expansion

The new investment is also an investment in more sustainable technology. Going forward the dairy will reduce its use of water significantly and the expansion ensures that the dairy also can invest in green energy solutions in the future.

“At Arla, we work with sustainability in all aspects of dairy production from the farm to the consumer. We also assume this responsibility at Branderup Dairy and therefore we aim to reuse as much water as possible, and will use the latest energy-optimized equipment for the expansion,” said Nørgaard.

Focusing on water reuse and other production improvements is another step on the road towards Arla’s climate goal of reducing total CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2015, and becoming CO2 neutral in 2050.

Work will begin in early 2020, and the expansion of Branderup Dairy is expected to be completed in the summer of 2021.

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The new facility has been built on the former Ornua cheese manufacturing site, opening two years to the day since the site was destroyed by a fire. The 35,000-tonne mozzarella and pizza cheese facility has the potential to increase to 70,000-tonnes in the future.

The reopening of the Ávila facility also marked the creation of Ornua Ingredients Europe which brings Ornua’s Spanish and UK Ingredients businesses together. The new division is a supplier of high quality and nutritious cheese and dairy powder ingredients supplying over 75,000-tonnes of added value ingredients to food manufacturing, QSR and pizza customers.

The rebuild of the facility, which employs over 120 people, included a major expansion and processing technology upgrade. As a result, the Ávila facility will reinforce Ornua’s position as a major supplier of mozzarella and pizza cheese blends for both European and global pizza chains and play a major role in Ornua’s growth strategy of diversifying its product portfolio and building scale.

The Ávila site features a R&D Centre of Excellence with a pilot plant and innovation kitchen dedicated to developing the next generation of pizza cheese and cheese ingredients for the $130 billion global pizza market. Its technology provides a wide selection of mozzarella and mozzarella-based cheese blends which deliver great flavour, an excellent melted texture, superb coverage and stretch and an outstanding cooked appearance. It also features innovative Individual Quick-Freezing capability, an in-line cooling system and the latest technology to produce pizza cheese ropes for the growing ‘stuffed crust’ sector of the market.

John Jordan, Ornua CEO said: “The opening of our new cheese facility here in Ávila is fully in line with Ornua’s growth strategy of investing in world-class strategic production facilities to secure long term returns for Irish dairy farmers. This major investment will play a key role in enhancing our cheese ingredients capacity and capabilities.  It will reinforce our position as a leading, large scale supplier of high-quality dairy ingredients to many leading Spanish, European and global food manufacturing and food service customers. Our new Avila R&D Centre of Excellence becomes the 10th innovation centre in our international network, which will ensure that Ornua has the capability to support our customers at the forefront of the rapidly changing dairy ingredients market.”

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Building on the company’s global expertise in cheese, the centre has full scale engineering capabilities, from cheese making process design to mechanical, automation and electrical engineering through to manufacturing of processing solutions itself.

Employing over 350 staff across engineering, production and business management, the 12,000 sqm site in Olsztyn, north-eastern Poland will double Tetra Pak’s cheese-making solution capacity in the country and allow for extensive equipment testing.

Ola Elmqvist, executive vice president, processing solutions & equipment at Tetra Pak said: “As the only company able to deliver a completely seamless integrated solution for cheese production, this investment demonstrates our commitment to help customers meet rapidly changing consumer demands and capture emerging growth opportunities.”

The overall global cheese market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 2.3%, reaching 31,000 kilotons by 2023, largely due to semi-hard cheese and mozzarella demand.

“One of the main reasons we chose Olsztyn is its excellent location in the heart of a region with a great dairy tradition and excellent food engineering talent base. This means we’re perfectly placed to serve not only our customers in Poland but also wider Europe”, added Elmqvist.

Among its many features to minimise its environmental footprint, the site has a fully automatic “weather control” system that manages ventilation and sunlight, and a rainwater collection system that supplies water for site maintenance.

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The business plans to increase production to significantly grow sales, which will help to secure local employment opportunities and ensure a sustainable future for the local farms supplying the Creamery.

The deal, along with securement of an EU productivity grant of approximately £800,000 (€925,000) will enable the Creamery to help modernise its cheese-making facilities, with the purchase of new vats, working tables and cheese-making and curd-handling equipment, helping improve efficiency and improve the working environment for its cheese-makers.  A new cheese smoking plant, along with water recycling and increased milk storage capacity are also being planned.

In addition, almost £1 million (€1.16m) of HSBC UK’s funding will go towards a cheese blending and waxing facility, allowing the business to blend cheese more efficiently with a state-of-the-art production line.

By-products from the cheese-making process at the Creamery are being taken to Iona Capital’s bio-gas plant in Leeming, North Yorkshire where it is converted into electricity to produce around 10,000 MWh of thermal power, which is enough energy to heat approximately 800 homes.

David Hartley, managing director, Wensleydale Creamery, said: “The support from HSBC UK will allow us to increase and improve production across the Creamery. By investing in new, modern equipment, we can improve our efficiency as well as improve process control with technical excellence. It puts us in a strong position to grow the business and meet customer demand for our brand and products. HSBC UK provided sound guidance and showed enthusiasm for our growth plans.”

Gordon Forster, area director, HSBC UK said: “HSBC UK is a huge supporter of rural British business and Wensleydale Creamery is a much-loved British food brand, crucial to the economic well-being of the deeply rural area in which it is situated, and we’re delighted to help with its growth plans. David and his team have shown great commitment and strategic thinking behind their plans for sustainable growth and we wish them every success moving forward.”

The Wensleydale Creamery produces 4,000 tonnes of cheese a year at its Creamery in Hawes, North Yorkshire. It employs a workforce of 230 and supplies some of the biggest retailers in the UK.

It currently exports its cheeses around the world and is particularly popular in North America, Middle East and Europe. Its Visitor Centre also attracts 350,000 visitors each year.

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Now known as FrieslandCampina Ingredients, the business comprises four strategic segments: Early Life Nutrition, Adult Nutrition, Food & Beverages and Animal Nutrition.

“The changing face of food and beverages, especially in Asia, called for a structure that optimises both our product offering and our customer-centricity,” said Willem Hoogwater, director, ingredients APAC at FrieslandCampina Ingredients.

“Increasingly important in the region, in addition to early life nutrition, is adult nutrition – and more specifically, supporting the health and wellbeing of its ageing population. By 2050, a quarter of Asian consumers will be over 60, and FrieslandCampina Ingredients will be at the forefront of ingredient innovation to help them remain healthy and active for longer.”

The new brand exhibited for the first time at Fi Asia in Bangkok, and presented its extensive portfolio of functional, nutritional and tasty ingredients for manufacturers of food, beverages and nutritional products. The exhibition saw the introduction of two new products: Nutri Whey Isolate Clear, a pure whey protein with 90% protein content, and a new instant milk cap powder for foodservice and catering outlets.

Nutri Whey Isolate Clear is a transparent whey protein developed specifically for the fortified waters and clear beverage segments. Tapping into several major trends like clean label, low calorie, hydration, convenience and protein fortification, it enables substantial nutritional enhancement with a clean taste profile as well as outstanding visual appeal.

In response to booming Asian demand for milk-capped hot and chilled beverages, FrieslandCampina Ingredients is also launching a convenient and versatile instant milk cap powder. By simply stirring or shaking after adding water or milk, it ends the complexity and time of making caps from scratch.

FrieslandCampina Ingredients retains its regional headquarters in Singapore and has facilities in several other APAC countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines. A local technical sales team supports APAC customers in overcoming application challenges, backed by expertise provided by FrieslandCampina’s global R&D centre in Europe.

FrieslandCampina Ingredients is part of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., the fifth largest dairy company in the world.

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Fifteen shortlisted businesses pitched to win a slot on the 2019 cohort, with Agropur selecting four dairy-related start-ups from Canada, the US and the UK to join the programme. The selected businesses will spend 12 weeks in Inno Accel, challenging convention and generating new solutions to maximise their chances of North American success.

Inno Accel will help Jersey-based Sleep Well develop products and market-appropriate solutions with a fully customised coaching programme. The Sleep Well team will be supported by two mentors – a successful entrepreneur and a member of Agropur senior management – and at least 20 coaches with different areas of expertise, from marketing and sales to R&D and strategy. The coaches will provide guidance and help Sleep Well develop in an environment that simulates real-life conditions in the business world and the agri-food industry.

“Agropur is North America’s biggest dairy co-operative and this is a huge opportunity for our brand and our product”, said Sleep Well founder Sam Watts. “Canada’s dairy industry is renowned for its creativity and innovation and to be selected from so many strong contenders for a place on the programme is an immense achievement for the business and the team.

“North America has always been high on our target list and this has the potential to accelerate our growth in one of the world’s biggest consumer markets. Above all, we are going to benefit from three months of intensive product and business development coaching and the expertise of a highly professional and experienced company, creating undreamed of opportunities.”

Caroline Miron, Agropur’s director for innovation, architecture and strategy said: “We want to team up with the best in order to come up with new ideas and create the dairy products of the future. From a pool of start-ups from around the world, we have therefore selected businesses that are innovative and ambitious to join Inno Accel.

“Thanks to our solid acceleration programme developed in collaboration with OSMO foundation, we can provide a springboard for start-ups that have a sound business model, products with a competitive advantage and strong growth potential and we believe Sleep Well has the potential to be part of the next wave of innovative dairy products.”

The popularity of Sleep Well – a natural milk drink that helps all ages over 12 months to relax and get a better night’s sleep – has increased rapidly since its launch two years ago. Available online at sleepwellmilk.com, Amazon.co.uk and selected online food retailers, Sleep Well is also sold in more than 200 independent stores across the UK and Channel Islands, including 110 Sainsbury’s stores.

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The Bayernland group generates sales of €900 million, of which €560 million is attributable to the Bayreuth, Kemnath, Amberg and Regensburg plants.

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Italian desserts represent an important strategic pillar for the development of the European business of the Emmi Group. Therefore, the existing Emmi Dessert Italia network, consisting of the three production sites in Gattico in northern Italy, Pero and Lasnigo, will be complemented by the integration of Pasticceria Quadrifoglio, with its two locations near Modena.

Pasticceria Quadrifoglio is well established in its Italian home market both in the food retail trade and, in particular, in Italian food service. Emmi expects the takeover to provide new desserts for its larger network.

The new Emmi subsidiary also enjoys a good reputation for innovation and product quality in food retailing. The Sorbissimo line – a sorbet drink that enjoys great popularity primarily as a dessert in Italian food culture – stands out in terms of innovation.

The other dessert specialties, which are offered as single portions in high-quality glass packaging, are important drivers of the company’s continued double-digit growth. Furthermore, Pasticceria Quadrifoglio is also successful in ice cream.

The firm generated net sales of around €19 million in 2018 and the Canali family remains in charge of operations.

In the future Emmi wants to continue and expand the successful model of the founding family and their team. Synergies with the other Emmi Dessert Italia subsidiaries are to be realised successively.

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The Asia-Pacific region continues to be one of the major growth areas for aseptic carton packaging, and SIG’s new 120,000 square meter plant is expected to be operational in early 2021.

With a total investment of €180 million, the new plant is expected to achieve world-class environmental, safety and operational performance right from the start.

SIG’s recently opened cutting-edge Tech Centre nearby in Suzhou supports customer collaboration in the development and implementation of innovative product concepts and market-ready packaging solutions.

Across Asia, millions of people are only now starting to consume packaged food and beverages. The rise of new consumers, driven by increasing income, changing lifestyles and new consumption habits, represents a huge opportunity for aseptic carton packaging with its long shelf life without the need of a cooling chain.

At the same time, young and growing populations are adopting modern lifestyles in urban areas, with more on-the-go consumption, an increasing awareness of health and wellness, and a growing demand for high-quality nutritional food and beverage products.

Rolf Stangl, CEO at SIG said: “The food and beverage market in Asia has seen continuous growth and is expected to continue on that path. Our new production plant will ensure we continue to excel at bringing new and exciting product and packaging concepts to market, quickly and efficiently.

“Together with our Tech Centre close by, the new plant is another pivotal moment for SIG in Asia. We will grow our business in the APAC region, but also expedite true beverage and dairy innovation for our customers, so they can quickly adapt to the changing lifestyle needs of Asian consumers.”

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