Insider Flash: China to lead Unilever’s Asia Pacific ambitions

08/02/2007 - Unilever, the world's second largest food company, is to increase its focus on its Chinese operations to allow the country to meet its potential as a market leader in the Asia Pacific food industry.

Speaking to the press earlier this week, Zeng Xiwen, vice president of the company in China, revealed that with year on year sales growth well into double figures, the country could replace India as the regions most dynamic market for Unilever during the next decade.

"The booming consumer spending and surging economy fuelled a strong sales performance in China," he said.
For all its potential, Xiwen revealed that China was currently Unilever's third most dynamic market in the region - trailing behind India and Indonesia.

However, despite its current position, China is rapidly gaining ground on its local rivals, last year seeing sales jump by more than 20 per cent to around €495m.

As a result the company is keen to facilitate its growing presence in the country by enhancing its administrative and production capabilities.

Unilever already houses its third largest office in the world in Shanghai, and aims to expand it by 24,000-square-metres, in a move that will almost double its capacity next year, in a bid meet demand.

"The new China headquarters will be upgraded into the regional centre of Asia Pacific, with staff and R&D people transferred here from Japan, Singapore, Australia and the United States," said Xiwen.

He also announced plans to increase the output of its Hefei production plant in Anhui province, a move expected to create Unilever's largest manufacturing facility.

Source: ap-foodtechnology.com
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Insider Flash: Carter Holt Harvey considers further packaging consolidation

08/02/2007 - Auckland-based firm Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) is set to further increase its presence in the global beverage packaging sector following the acquisition of International paper’s North American beverage assets.

It was announced this month that the group had completed the purchase of International paper's North American beverage packing operations, and were interested in a further move for their remaining packaging assets.

As a result, CHH will take control of a number of production facilities throughout the US and Canada including International Paper's gable-top beverage converting facilities and the Evergreen packaging company.

Along with its North American operations, International Paper also owns beverage packaging subsidiaries in China, South Korea and Taiwan, and a number of joint ventures in Latin America, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Though these assets are not included with the current deal, International Paper added that it expected they would be sold to CHH at a later date during the first financial quarter.

The sale highlights the growing appetite amongst Asia Pacific companies to enter into the dynamic US and European beverage packaging industry.

Last year, Australian firm Amcor revealed that it had managed to offset declining revenues from its cardboard operations through increased sales of its beverage products in the US and Europe.

This saw the group - which is already the world's largest producer of plastic bottles - increase its sales throughout the sector.

Of this increase, aluminium beverage cans proved a particularly strong segment with sales rising 6 per cent, though the company also reported strong sales of glass wine bottles which also performed well.

Source: ap-foodtechnology.com
Note:  You are receiving this message as a service from CBAS Cluster Marketing, updating key personnel within the CBAS organization of new and exciting developments within the packaging industry.  If you would like to discontinue receiving this particular update via email from CBAS Cluster Marketing, simply reply to this message with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.  Additionally, if you are a supervisor/director and feel that there are additional individuals within your department/team that should receive this update, please inform us accordingly. 

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Areerat Wongsa-oun
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Cluster Marketing CBAS
Phone direct +66-2259-9954-(118)
areerat.wongsa-oun@sig.biz

SIG Combibloc Ltd.
10th Floor, UBC II Building, 591 Sukhumvit 33
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Phone +66-2259-9954, Fax +66-2259-9962
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Insider Flash: Groupe DANONE buys out its partners in Japanese joint venture Calpis Ajinomoto Danone

Groupe DANONE today announced the acquisition of all shares in the Japanese joint venture Calpis Ajinomoto Danone (CAD). The transaction reflects Groupe DANONE’s commitment to accelerate strategic growth objectives in the Asian dairy market.

The new organization, which will operate under the name Danone Japan, will continue to work closely with Ajinomoto and Calpis. Ajinomoto will remain the exclusive distributor for all Danone Japan fresh dairy products in Japan, and Calpis will continue to provide various food raw materials for Danone Japan’s fresh dairy products.

The new shareholding structure will enable Danone Japan to concentrate on its core competencies and focus on fast growing products and brands with distinct health benefits as well as increasing investments in marketing.. With low per-capita consumption, the Japanese dairy market has significant room for growth.

Emmanuel Faber, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific, said the 27 year collaboration with Ajinomoto and 14 year collaboration with Calpis has been successful. “As a result of our cooperation with Ajinomoto and Calpis, we were able to establish the Danone brand in various dairy segments in Japan”. Commenting on the transaction, Bernard Hours, Executive Vice President Fresh Dairy Products, said: “the acquisition of all shares is part of Groupe DANONE’s strategy to increase its positions in the Asian dairy market. Japan is a priority market for Danone in Asia and the success of our product BIO in Japan illustrates there is room for growth of products that deliver distinct health benefits”.

Ajinomoto and Danone established the joint venture AD in 1980, in which both companies held 50% of the shares Ajinomoto, Calpis and Danone established the joint venture CAD in 1993. Before all shares were transferred to Groupe DANONE, Ajinomoto owned 20%, Calpis 30% and Danone 50% of the joint venture CAD.


Groupe DANONE
With around EUR 13 billion of total sales in 2005, Groupe DANONE is the world leader in fresh dairy products and bottled water (in volume terms), and n°2 in the biscuit market worldwide. In fresh dairy products, Groupe DANONE posted sales of EUR 7.2 billion with strong positions in Western Europe (n°1 in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom, Belgium), in Eastern Europe (n°1 in Poland Czech, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria), in North America (n°1 in United States), in Latin America (n°1 in Argentina and Brazil), in North Africa and Middle-East (n°1 en Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey). In Asia, Groupe DANONE posted sales of more than EUR 2.2 billion.

Source: Danone.com/Last Press Releases

Note:  You are receiving this message as a service from CBAS Cluster Marketing, updating key personnel within the CBAS organization of new and exciting developments within the packaging industry.  If you would like to discontinue receiving this particular update via email from CBAS Cluster Marketing, simply reply to this message with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.  Additionally, if you are a supervisor/director and feel that there are additional individuals within your department/team that should receive this update, please inform us accordingly. 

Best regards,

Areerat Wongsa-oun
Secretary to Director Marketing and Business Development
Cluster Marketing CBAS
Phone direct +66-2259-9954-(118)
areerat.wongsa-oun@sig.biz

SIG Combibloc Ltd.
10th Floor, UBC II Building, 591 Sukhumvit 33
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Phone +66-2259-9954, Fax +66-2259-9962
www.sigcombibloc.com