On the day 27 associations issued a joint open letter imploring the EU to keep to its word and scrap widely despised sugar quotas across the bloc in 2015 - not 2020 as the sugar industry wants - Tate & Lyle Sugars jumped into the debate by saying...
Scandinavia’s largest confectioner Cloetta has reported a 20% fall in earnings for 2012 due to a weak Italian market, higher sugar prices and a "sugar tax" in Denmark.
Should the EU extend sugar quotas until 2020 any temporary measures to improve supply for food manufacturers will have little impact on prices and availability, according to Nestlé.
The European Parliament Agriculture Committee's vote to extend EU sugar quotas until 2020 will have a negative impact on the confectionery industry and puts small and medium sized manufacturers at risk, according to European Sugar Users association...
Germany confectionery exports were at the lowest level since 2005 last year as the market was hit hard by EU sugar shortages, according to the German confectionery Association (BDSI).
December 14 brings the long awaited and widely disputed EU crack down on health claims. That means 222 general function claims are good to go, another 1500 or so prohibited. But what happens to B2B communications?
The Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries (CAOBISCO) has called for a halt to ‘discriminatory’ food taxes in its latest annual report and argues that there is no such thing as unhealthy foods, only unhealthy diets.
Kraft-owned R&D firm Reading Scientific Services Limited (RSSL) looks set to gain EU novel foods approval for a degradable gum base by October, according to a source in the know.
The EU sugar supply is constrained and the confectionery industry is nervous about upcoming sugar reforms, according to Nestlé’s procurement head, who is also chair of a UK sugar users group.
Confectioners in Europe are under threat from an MEP’s report proposing to postpone abolishing EU sugar quotas until 2020, according to industry bodies whose members include Mars, Nestlé, Kraft and Ferrero.
German confectioners are uneasy about their prospects in 2012 as EU sugar prices threaten financial results, according to a survey from German confectionery association BDSI.
Europe’s food and drink industry has tipped its decade-long downward export balance; a shift defined by strong export figures underpinned by emerging market demands, according to FoodDrinkEurope.
Sugar prices for the coming year are forecast to fall by 12% as the market records a surplus for the first time in three years, according to financial service provider Rabobank.
Gum giant Wrigley has been granted novel food approval in the EU for an extract to be used in chewing gum and mints that will allow it to introduce new products with perceived breath-freshening benefits.
Post-market monitoring of stevia use levels in food and drink products could see the European Commission broaden the current authorised food categories, claims a stevia trade body.
A decision is not expected until spring 2012 on whether the EU Ecolabel would be extended to food and drink products, reports the EU, following the publication of a feasibility study last week.
Instability in the European sugar market is set to continue in the near future though further deregulation anticipated for 2015 could help bakery and confectionery manufacturers, according to a report from financial services provider Rabobank Group.
In anticipation of stevia approval in Europe, leading producer, PureCircle, has announced that it is setting up its European headquarters in the UK to support customers in their launches throughout the region.
The European Commission will consider boosting the availability of sugar at its next tonnage tender meeting on August 25 after sharp rises in prices and calls from food manufacturers for it to increase sugar quotas or abandon them.
The European Commission has defended its decision to release thousands of tonnes of sugar on to the market after accusations that the move would have a detrimental impact on the yeast industry.
Confectionery manufacturers in Germany are faced with sugar supply gaps and dramatic price rises despite EU regulatory intervention on the crucial food ingredient, argues the German chocolate and confectionery industry association.
European Commission measures to open a further 200,000 tonne import quota for raw or refined sugar at zero import duty and the possibility for further imports at reduced import duty via a tendering system have been backed by member states.
A European Commission initiative to release 500,000 tonnes of out of quota sugar onto the EU market has been backed by member states in the EU sugar management committee today.
Sugar supplier to the bakery and confectionery industry, Ragus, said it expects further commodity price hikes and contests whether proposed EC intervention on import duty tariff reductions would have the desired effect on the deficit in the EU market.
The European Commission, in a policy about face, said it may open the import quota or allow the sale of out-of-quota sugar into the bloc - a move that would bring relief for bakers and other food makers set to negotiate new sugar contracts.
The deficit in the EU sugar supply could put production at risk for confectioners and other food and drink industry users of the commodity if market intervention does not occur, said Irish trade body FDII, who are calling on the EC to keep out-of-quota...
Lack of clarity on the implications for the cocoa industry of the financial penalities imposed by the EU on the Ivory Coast has prompted trade representatives in the bloc to seek additional information from the Commission.
Awareness of the importance of nutrient profiling within the EU food industry is prompting many companies to reformulate products to decrease calorie content, fat, sugar and salt in products, which gives rise to the challenge of maintaining tastes that...
The leading traders of physical raw sugar claim that the commodity is likely to surge to a 30-year high in the coming months, with all eyes on the pending Indian sugar crop output which is hoped will ease supply pressures.
The confectionery division of the UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has backed the move by the European Commission to open tenders for the sale of intervention skimmed milk powder (SMP) as a way of bolstering raw material supply for the sector.
A new French law threatens supply chain efficiencies in the packaged goods sector and could create new trade barriers in the EU internal market, warns the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (Europen).
Most laboratories worldwide are capable of detecting melamine in food, according to a new study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Talks are under way in Hungary aimed at returning 50 per cent of
the country's sugar quota to the restructuring fund, in light of
the latest sugar reforms announced by the European Union.
Suedzucker has adjusted its profit and revenue expectations for
full year 2007/8 following EU moves to make sugar reform more
attractive to growers, indicating that the industry efforts to
lessen the blow for the industry could be...
Food safety and animal health top the agenda at
today's meeting of EU's agricultural ministers, with
the future of milk, wine and sugar production also up for
discussion.
Milk and cheese products are more than twice as expensive in the
rest of the 27 European countries than in Eastern Europe,
according to a Eurostat report.
EU legislators yesterday voted in favour of proposals to introduce
a controversial five-stage hierarchy of priority for the bloc's
waste management policy.
Mars has become one of the first food processors to run afoul of
the EU's greenhouse gas controls scheme, with the UK's Environment
Agency yesterday fining the company €78,080 (£52,532) for breaching
the rules.
Associated British Foods (ABF) yesterday blamed a drop in operating
profits of 21 per cent to £413m (€612.9m) before on higher energy
costs and instability arising from EU sugar reforms.
Ingredients giant Tate and Lyle could be set to cease its sugar
processing operations in Central Europe, as producers look to lower
quotas in light of new EU sugar reforms.
The current supply glut on the EU butter market will be solved by
more producers leaving the sector, says a Commission report, again
predicting a move away from commodities across the bloc.
