An Australian beef industry leader has indicated that the
Australian beef sector is riding a short-term boom following a
series of bans on US beef exports to major Asian markets.
Anheuser-Busch has announced the completion of a deal to purchase
around 29 per cent of Chinese brewer Harbin, which is currently
subject to a hostile takeover bid by SABMiller.
The latest launches from Mintel's GNPD database reveal an emphasis
on snacks and dairy products this week, with a varied selection of
new ranges from Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines that focus
on healthy properties.
Hangzhou Wahaha, one of China's leading manufacturers of fizzy
drinks has made its premier shipment of cola carbonated drinks to
the US, a first for a Chinese company.
Harbin, the leading Chinese brewery, has advised shareholders to
resist SABMiller's takeover bid for the company. The bid was
influenced by Ancheuser-Busch's 29 per cent acquisition of the
company earlier in the week. SABMiller...
Trade patterns are changing in South Korea. Until recently capital
goods and raw materials have totally dominated the market, but if a
recent exhibit for imported goods at the Seoul Convention and
Exhibition Center is anything to...
The Philippines-based San Miguel Corporation has announced a
regional expansion programme in an effort to increase its market
share outside of the saturated domestic market it now clearly
dominates. In the next six months the food,...
China's growing band of beer brewers is claiming that rising costs
of ingredients coupled with rising production costs is likely to
put between 10 and 20 per cent on the price of a beer during the
course of this month, a factor...
Japan may be about to review its policy of testing all slaughtered
cattle for mad cow disease, a practice Tokyo has asked Washington
to adopt as a condition for resuming US beef imports. This is
encouraging news for US meat processors,...
The Asian poultry industry continues to send out contradictory
messages in the wake of the bird flu outbreak. Whilst Thailand
looks set to restock its poultry flocks - a move which some
industry observers believe could be premature...
A recent report from the Lund University in Sweden on the ongoing
invasion of the golden apple snail in southeast Asia claims that it
is now having a devastating ecological effect, something that will
continue to seriously farming...
A British Pig Executive (BPEX) delegation is visiting Beijing at
the end of the month to encourage British exports to China, the
world's biggest market for pork.
China has recently relaxed the rules obliging foreign retail groups
to take a local partner, a move expected to lead to rapid growth in
the number of international food and beverage retailers doing
business there. But despite Chinese...
To counteract China's alleged abuse of patent protection the US
government is proposing legislation that would mean greater tariffs
on a variety of Chinese products including food and beverage items.
As the FAO continues its calls for caution over bird flu, South
Korea announced that a new outbreak of the disease has taken place
on a small battery farm just north of the capital, Seoul.
Thai fruit farmers have won a long battle to get their lychees and
longans onto the Australian market place, breaking a long ban by
Australian authorities which deemed the fruit as a potential
pest-carrying hazard to agricultural...
Food ingredients companies head off to China with agriculture chief
Fischler next week on a mission to boost trade relations and create
new business opportunities for the food industry.
Britain's biggest food retailer Tesco looks set to take a further
step towards its goal of competing with global giants such as
Carrefour and Wal-Mart with a move into the massive Chinese retail
market.
China claims to have had an early success in stamping out the bird
flu that has been causing severe hardships to the country's
numerous poultry farmers, after the mass culling of some nine
million birds over the seven weeks since...
Trade in food and beverage products is expected to grow
significantly on the back of an agreement made between China and
Vietnam which will end tariffs on nearly 500 seafood and
agricultural products during the course of the next...
Vietnam is seeking to import between 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of
corn for feed as it moves to restock poultry flocks hit by the
outbreak of bird flu earlier this year, even though the FAO has
warned the country not to resume poultry...
Red meat sales in Australia are firmly back on the road to
recovery, according to statistics released today from Meat &
Livestock Australia. The figures show a second year of strong
recovery following dwindling sales in the 80s...
Japan's poultry industry is the latest sector to feel the effect of
avian influenza. Reported outbreaks of the virus in the
health-conscious country have eroded people's appetite for chicken
and hammered down the price of...
Britain's biggest food retailer Tesco looks set to take a further
step towards its goal of competing with global giants such as
Carrefour and Wal-Mart with a move into the massive Chinese retail
market.
After a week of denials and perhaps months of cover-ups, Thailand
has finally admitted that it has been hit by Avian 'flu, the
poultry virus that has ravaged other parts of East Asia. A Thai
minister told reporters that two boys...
In a move guaranteed to fuel further speculation that Thailand is
covering up cases of Avian 'flu, Japan today suspended poultry
imports from the south east Asian nation. The country continues to
deny that it is covering up cases...
The recent outbreak of Avian 'flu in East Asia - described by a WHO
spokesperson as being "potentially more dangerous than
SARS," - is devastating the poultry industries of Vietnam,
South Korea and Japan. We examine...
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has expressed
serious concern about the spread of Avian flu in East Asia. And
perhaps more worryingly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has
warned that the outbreak has the potential...
The Chinese government is to establish a digital monitoring system
for agricultural food products to ensure food sanitation and
safety. The move is designed to increase the country's export
potential by helping food manufacturers...
Following the failure of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Cancún, Mexico, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder issued an appeal to all parties concerned to resume talks as soon as possible.
Regular alcohol intake, thought to reduce the risk of
cardiovascular disease, is associated with lower prevalence of
metabolic syndrome, reported Greek researchers at the European
Society of Cardiology meeting earlier this week.
The European Union is to reduce testing of imported Thai poultry for cancer-causing drugs, claiming that improved checks on chicken meat products have eased food safety fears.
Japan has asked 26 beef-exporting countries to provide
country-of-origin certificates for beef shipments to help prevent
the spread of mad cow disease.
The Sars outbreak in Asia has had far-reaching implications for a number of industries. China, one of the worst-hit countries, has seen a sharp decline in the export of many goods and products, not least livestock.
GeneScan, a leader in the field of 'molecular biological testing of
food and feed, has established its presence in Japan by naming
FASMAC of Kanagawa, a subsidiary of Nippon Flour Mills, as its
exclusive licensee in Japan.
The Japanese cabinet endorsed a set of bills on Friday to ensure
the safety of food and protect consumer health in the wake of a
series of scandals and incidents to hit Japan in recent years.
A new laboratory in southern India will provide food manufacturers
with a range of services in the domain of food technology.
Technical support for the project will be provided by the UK-based
Reading Scientific Services.
Representatives of the Indian seafood industry have said that in
the light of the ban on five major Indian seafood units in the
European Union, seafood exporters in the country are likely to
focus their trade on the US market rather...
In answer to European consumers' increasing worries about food
safety, suppliers in Asia are likely to face stricter conditions
next year, both at government and private sector levels, according
to a report in the Bangkok Post.
The Indian Export Inspection Agency (EIA) has issued directives to
five major seafood processing units across the country to cease
production, according to a report from Business Line.
Intelligent packaging has been an increasing focus of industry
attention lately. With the recent announcement that Food Science
Australia had developed tamper-evident packaging that "bruises",
many heads were turned. FoodProductionDaily.com...
Interest in the use of high pressure processing to combat microbes
in food products has grown since Japan, more than 10 years ago,
first made the method commercially available. Dr. Michelle Bull, a
research microbioligist at Food...
China's Guangdong Province, is integrating Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Point (HACCP) into the growing local food
businesses for dairy, meat and snacks production.
Investigators have raided a subsidiary of Japan's leading meat
processor to collect evidence it may have illegally profited from a
government programme to buy up homegrown beef potentially
contaminated with mad-cow disease, a...
A proposed new body would disseminate food safety information to
the entire food chain in Karnataka state in a bid to improve the
image of Indian food on key export markets.
China has warned Dutch authorities that it will not put up with the
destruction of its exported meat and seafood, found to contain
trace residues of antibiotics.
