Tag: China

China’s Mengtai Group imports entire distillery from Scotland to create “globally award-winning whisky”

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CHINA – The Mengtai Group, One of Inner Mongolia’s largest private firms with vast interests in coal production and electricity generation, is importing an entire whisky distillery from Scotland to China.  According to a report by the BBC, more than 35 tonnes of equipment, including stills, flooring, control valves, and pipework, are leaving Buckie in Moray for the port of Tianjin.  On arrival, the equipment part of a £3m “design and build” deal signed between Forfar firm Valentine International and China’s Mengtai Group in 2019 will be assembled at a facility being built in Inner Mongolia.  The facility in Ordos – a city of more…

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Preference for corn by Chinese farmers to result in depressed production of Sorghum and Barley

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CHINA – A mix of high prices and government policies encouraging or mandating the planting of additional corn acreage has influenced Chinese farmers into planting more maize at the expense of Sorghum and Barley.   Area planted to corn in Heilongjiang, one of China’s most important corn producing provinces, increased by 1.1 million hectares this year, or by 27 percent year-over-year, according to the Heilongjiang Agricultural Bureau.   Nationwide, area planted to corn is expected to increase by 2.1 million hectares this year, or by 6.2 percent year-over-year.  Due to the increased acreage Chinese corn, production for MY2021/22…

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Tyson foods launches plant-based products in Asia as BiH dairy producers gear up for Chinese market

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ASIA – Tyson Foods, the world’s second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, has launched a new line of plant-based meat alternatives across the Asia Pacific to take advantage of increased demand in the region. The launch under the company’s First Pride brand marks the first time Tyson Foods is introducing plant-based products in the region. First Pride brand is however not new to consumers in the region as Tyson has offered frozen chicken, beef, and fish products under the brand in Malaysia for nearly 15 years. According…

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Reckitt Benckiser incurs US$3.05bn loss following sale underperforming China infant formula business

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CHINA – Reckitt Benckiser Group, a British consumer health, nutrition, and hygiene company,  has signed an agreement to offload its Infant Formula and Child Nutrition (IFCN) business in China to private equity firm Primavera Capital Group for $2.2 billion (US$2.68bn). Following the sale, Primavera Capital Group will own IFCN’s brands in China and also assume control of manufacturing plants in Nijmegen, the Netherlands and Guangzhou, China. Sale transaction terms also give Primavera a royalty-free perpetual and exclusive licence of the Mead Johnson and Enfa family of brands (which includes Enfinitas,…

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IFF launches new ingredient to boost the probiotic profile of Chinese ambient yogurt

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CHINA – IFF, a leading ingredient provider for the food and beverage industry, has launched a new ingredient aimed at boosting Chinese ambient yogurt with extremely robust live cultures. IFF says the new ingredient, YO-MIX® ViV, is a lactic acid bacteria culture from natural fermented plant-based food, sourced in China. According to the company, the live culture allows producers to offer ambient yogurt and other fermented beverages to contain highly stable live cultures throughout the shelf life. “YO-MIX® ViV provides yogurt producers with the ability to offer consumers who prefer…

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China steps up efforts to fight food waste with new laws, campaigns

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CHINA – China, a country of close to 1.4 billion people, is stepping up efforts aimed at reducing food waste from farm to fork and everywhere in between. Efforts against food waste can be traced back to last year when the country under the leadership of President Xi Jinping launched a clean plate program targeting food waste in restaurants and other food service establishments. According to local press reports, China’s President Xi Jinping called on citizens, restaurants, and other food service businesses to reverse the “shocking and distressing” amounts of…

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Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology releases a group standard for Plant-based Food

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CHINA – The Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST)has released a draft group standard for the Plant-based food sector. The new standard provides definitions, technical requirements, and guidelines on the labeling, packaging, transportation, and storage of plantbased meat alternative products. It defines plant-based foods as those produced through certain techniques using plant-derived raw materials (including algae and fungi) or their processed products as the sources of protein and fat, adding or not adding other ingredients. According to CIFST, such foods have one or more characteristics including shape, flavor,…

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Fonterra opens revamped application centre in China as Nestlé mulls closure of UK confectionery factory

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CHINA – New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative Fonterra has opened its revamped application centre in Guangzhou, China, in an effort to support its growing foodservice business in southern China. Fonterra says the revamped center is more multipurpose than the previous one and will see the test and development of innovative products and applications unique to the ‘fast-moving’ China market. The premise will also enable the co-operative’s teams to hold more than 70 large demos and 150 small demos each year. “This updated application centre is a great enabler for our…

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Fish prices in Kenya rose by 11% in 2020 due to decline in China imports, local production

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KENYA – Kenya registered a decline in volume of fish caught from the Lake Victoria in 2020, reducing from 90,000 metric tonnes of the previous year to 86,000 metric tonnes. The decline in local production was coupled with reduced imports from its main market, China triggering a rise in prices. According to reports by Business Daily, value of fish imports from China dropped by 31 percent or Ksh700 million (US$6.4m) as a result of Covid-19 pandemic disruptions. Industry data indicates that the value of imports from the Asian country dropped…

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China soybean imports from US surge in March as Brazil temporarily halts import duties to curtail inflation

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CHINA — China’s soybean imports from the United States in March increased 320% to 7.18 million tonnes as delivery from the world’s top soybean exporter Brazil delayed due to weather related interruptions. As a result of the delays, occasioned mainly by rain, imports from Brazil dropped 85% in March to 315,334 tonnes from 2.1 million tonnes in the same month in 2020. This, according to a report by Reuters, was the lowest monthly import total from Brazil since January 2017. Darin Friedrichs, senior analyst at StoneX, told Reuters the high…

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