Confectionery

Kit Kat shape mark triumphs in South Africa but stumbles in Singapore

02-Dec-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Nestlé has successfully protected its trademark for the Kit Kat shape in South Africa, but has lost a similar case against Petra Foods in Singapore.

Analysis

Cutting Killer Pythons in half shows ‘social’ downsizing of sweets

01-Dec-2014 By RJ Whitehead

At a time when lunch portions are growing, sweet tooths of a certain age across the antipodes can be heard lamenting how just the opposite has been happening with their favourite confectionery. However, one Nestlé line has turned the trend of shrinking...

Special Edition: Cutting calories in confectionery

Reducing portion sizes: Cutting calories or cheating consumers?

25-Nov-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Shrinking a confection is a surefire way to reduce calories, but can it aggravate consumers and even discourage sales?

Lindt to expand Australian business with Sydney site

20-Nov-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Lindt & Sprüngli is to construct a manufacturing and warehousing facility in Sydney that will become its Australian headquarters as it reports growth in the market.

Mondelēz to acquire Vietnamese biscuit leader Kinh Do for $370m

12-Nov-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Mondelēz International will acquire a 80% stake in Vietnam’s leading biscuit firm Kinh Do to spur growth in the rising Asia-Pacific market.

Chocolate gloom inspires compound coating boom in Asia and Eastern Europe, says Cargill

10-Nov-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Cocoa powder demand for use in compound confectionery coatings is rising rapidly in Asia and Eastern Europe as rising cocoa butter prices up the cost of chocolate manufacturing.

Australia

Mondelēz opens Victoria R&D lab as Coca-Cola Amatil sheds jobs nearby

03-Nov-2014 By RJ Whitehead

Food, beverage and confectionery giant Mondelēz has opened an Asia-Pacific research and development centre that claims to be the biggest of its kind in Australia.

Mondelēz eyes premium Asian exports with largest R&D center in Australia

03-Nov-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Mondelēz International has officially opened its Asia-Pacific Chocolate and Confectionery Center of Excellence in Australia, creating a base for the largest food R&D team in the country, according to local government. 

Healthy ageing comes of age: Free forum is next week

21-Oct-2014 By Shane STARLING

Next Tuesday NutraIngredients is proud to host our first healthy ageing forum, an hour long online discussion about a booming sector with leading experts.

Barry Callebaut ponders India factory

29-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Barry Callebaut is considering establishing manufacturing capacity in India.

China

Chinese biscuit maker Jiashili in $48m IPO

26-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

China’s sixth largest biscuit firm Jiashili Group has successfully listed on Hong Kong stock exchange and aims to innovate to grow its market share.

India

Newcomer Rajhans (Desai-Jain) Group eyes leadership in Indian luxury chocolate market

25-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Rajhans (Desai-Jain) Group has made its first foray into the confectionery industry by launching its Schmitten brand in India and it is hoping to become the domestic market leader in premium chocolate.

New Horizons

Untapped potential for chocolate makers in rural India, says ValueNotes

25-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Chocolate makers are circling the rural Indian market as it is where the majority of consumers reside and infrastructure and incomes have improved drastically, says an analyst at ValueNotes.

India

Indians getting sweet on chocolate thanks to Cadbury revolution

23-Sep-2014 By RJ Whitehead

Largely due to Cadbury’s marketing nous, India’s chocolate market has changed dramatically since the ‘Nineties, with consumers eating more and different varieties, a new report has highlighted.

UAE set for torrent of new entrants as chocolate market excels

09-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

The United Arab Emirates chocolate market is one of the fastest growing chocolate markets across the globe as big players such as Mars and Nestlé up their investment and others eye entry, according to TechSci Research.

AAK investing in new edible oils factory in eastern China

08-Sep-2014 By RJ Whitehead

Edible oils major AAK will make a significant investment in China for a speciality and semi-speciality edible oils factory in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province. 

Nestlé enters traditional trade channels in Singapore with DKSH

04-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Nestlé has extended its partnership with expansion services firm DKSH to bring confectionery brands such as Kit Kat, Milo Confectionery and Uncle Toby’s to traditional trade channels in Singapore.

United Biscuits invests $33m in India operation

03-Sep-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

UK-based United Biscuits will up its investment in India from £30m ($49m) to £50m ($82m).

China

Heinz recalls batches of infant cereal found to contain excess lead

18-Aug-2014 By RJ Whitehead

Heinz's China operation has recalled four batches of one of its infant food lines after local food safety regulators said they had found “excessive amounts of lead” during an inspection. 

Shanghai M&M’s World ‘the next stage’ for Chinese brand building, says Mars

18-Aug-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Mars has opened an M&M’s retail store in Shanghai, which it hopes will lift brand loyalty in China.

China

China to claim second most valuable bakery and cereals market by 2018

07-Aug-2014 By RJ Whitehead

The Chinese bakery and cereals market, which is already the world’s largest in volume, is set to become the second most valuable by 2018 as more urban dwellers consume pick-me-up snacks on-the-go. 

Move over! Asia Pacific to top North America in 2014 confectionery sales

04-Aug-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Asia Pacific will leapfrog North America in 2014 retail value confectionery sales to become the world’s second largest market, according to Euromonitor International.

“The IEA does not accept state money, and all of our research is independent of corporate funding.”

UK think tank denies Malaysian palm oil conflict of interest accusations

28-Jul-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has said categorically it does not accept state money, following accusations by a Malaysian media outlet that the UK think tank is in bed with the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and the country’s government.

Confectionery-free checkouts register with NZ consumers

18-Jul-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

The impulse checkout channel may be under further threat after a survey revealed a third of consumers in New Zealand supported candy-free checkout zones.

Cadbury’s Australia factory subsidy under fire

16-Jul-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Australia’s opposition party has called for Cadbury’s A$16m government funding to upgrade its Claremont plant to be redirected to West Coast development projects.

Insight

Questions to answer for Tate & Lyle in Cambodian land-grabbing action

24-Jun-2014 By Clothilde Le Coz and Marta Kasztelan

This story is the first in a new series of investigative reporting commissioned by FoodNavigator-Asia to follow the legalities and loopholes of Asia's produce growing and production network. Please feel free to comment in the box below.

Nestlé opens third China R&D centre

19-Jun-2014 By Richard Whitehead

Nestlé has officially inaugurated its latest Chinese research and development facility, in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

Japan

Japanese railway to use KitKat bars as tickets

16-Jun-2014 By RJ Whitehead

Japan has a reputation for food innovation, and a new initiative by Nestlé will transform one of its iconic chocolate bars into currency for train travel while at the same time promoting a crisis-hit part of the country.

Australia

Lindt the clear challenger as Cadbury’s block sales decline

10-Jun-2014 By RJ Whitehead

While Cadbury has been enduring a challenging time of late in Malaysia, news from Australia is not likely to sweeten the company’s mood.

Mondelēz announces palm oil action plan: Non-compliant suppliers will be ‘eliminated’

06-Jun-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Mondelēz International has published a palm oil action plan promising to “prioritize” suppliers that meet its sustainability principles – something Greenpeace says is fundamentally flawed due to its definition of what a forest is.

Malay-Muslim groups want boycott after Cadbury pork DNA findings

28-May-2014 By Rachel Arthur

More than 20 Malay-Muslim groups have called for a boycott of Cadbury products after pork DNA was found in two batches of the company’s chocolate, reports the Malay Mail Online. 

Pork DNA found in two halal Cadbury Malaysia chocolate batches

27-May-2014 By Rachel Arthur

Cadbury Malaysia, part of Mondelez International Inc, has recalled two batches of halal chocolate which tested positive for traces of pork DNA.

Olam invests $61m in first Asian cocoa plant

19-May-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Agri-giant Olam International has announced plans to invest $61m in a new cocoa-processing plant in Indonesia, its first in the region.

Cargill puts Sulawesi on sustainable map as part of $100m Indonesian investment

16-May-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Swiss business developer and Indonesian government signs Cargill Cocoa Promise, just as the firm announces initial cocoa processing tests at its first Asian plant in East Java.

Health conscious Indians ditch traditional sweets for chocolate - TechSci Research

13-May-2014 By Nicola Cottam

Indian consumers are swapping traditional, high calorie confectionery in favor of chocolate, according to TechSci Research.

ADM to expand non-GMO soybean processing in India

05-May-2014

US-based ingredient supplier Archer Daniels Midland Company will increase its production of non-GMO lecithin by expanding capacity at its soybean processing facility in the Maharashtra city of Latur, in India. 

Cadbury fails to clear Whittaker’s Berry Forest

30-Apr-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Cadbury has lost its bid to annul rival Whittaker’s New Zealand trademark for Berry Forest chocolate.

Seeds sown for sunflower lecithin in chocolate after Japan approval

30-Apr-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Cargill says that chocolate manufacturers can now make the switch from soy lecithin to the “more sustainable” sunflower lecithin after Japan became the last country to approve the emulsifier.

Japan finally gives green light to sales of sunflower lecithin

30-Apr-2014

Cargill has obtained approval for the use of sunflower lecithin in Japan, which until now had been the only country in the world where the additive had not previously been approved for food applications.

Key Insights from Food Vision

Insect economics: Insect production could utilise global food waste to produce nutritionally better protein

28-Apr-2014 By Nathan Gray

The huge amounts of food and agricultural produce that end up as waste could be used to feed insects and produce high-quality animal protein that is better for environment, according to Professor Arnold van Huis.

Cadbury India becomes Mondelēz India Foods Limited

24-Apr-2014

Mondelēz International subsidiary Cadbury India has changed its name to Mondelez India Foods Limited.

Exclusive interview: Pat Crowley, director and founder of Chapul

Chapul cricket bars founder: ‘Our marketing approach has been absolute, utter optimism’

23-Apr-2014 By Maggie Hennessy

As one of the forerunners of the commercialization of edible insects in the US, Chapul, makes its first big push into the national market with its cricket protein bars, founder Pat Crowley caught up with FoodNavigator-USA on the enviable efficiency of...

Halloren targets Thailand and Korea for export growth

14-Apr-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

German confectioner Halloren believes its best growth prospects lie in the fast growing markets in Thailand and Korea as well as North America amid intense competition in its home market.

Mars to source cocoa from India

10-Apr-2014 By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Mars follows in Cadbury footsteps as it looks to source cocoa from India, a crop that still only accounts for a tiny fraction of world production.

Cadbury ‘premiumizes’ Bournville for increasingly affluent Indian consumers

28-Mar-2014 By Oliver Nieburg

Mondelēz International has upped the cocoa content and revamped the packaging of its Cadbury Bournville brand in India to appeal to the growing middle classes.

Almost 1m Aussies eat mints they never bought

18-Mar-2014 By RJ Whitehead

It’s the great unspoken black hole in the Australian economy. Almost a million Australians a month flippantly committing the pettiest of larcenies: eating mints they don’t buy.

Innovation watch: Japanese KitKat you can bake

14-Mar-2014

Nestlé has developed a new mini KitKat that can be eaten as a chocolate bar or bake in the oven for two minutes to become like a crispy cookie.

Perfetti Van Melle signs Chupa Chups licensing deal in Greater China

13-Mar-2014

Dutch-Italian confectioner Perfetti Van Melle has signed a licensing deal with brand extension agency Beanstalk to growth the strength of its Chupa Chups lollipop brand in Greater China.

The FoodNavigator Forum

How does sugar affect health? Find out at FoodNavigator’s Sugar Debate: Separating Fact from Fiction

12-Mar-2014 By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

Sugar – at least in excess – has been blamed for everything from heart disease to obesity and cancers in recent months. But is it as bad as all that?

Oxfam's sustainability scorecard: Spurring a race to the top for the food industry

03-Mar-2014 By Winnie Byanyima, executive director, Oxfam International

Food and drink companies can have a big influence over sustainability and ethical issues in their supply chains - and have the power to change them rapidly. One year on from Oxfam's first Behind the Brands sustainability scorecard, nine of the ten...