COPAL COCOA Info
COPAL COCOA Info
A Weekly Newsletter of Cocoa Producers' Alliance
Issue No. 296 11th – 15th Aug. 2008
ICCO Daily Cocoa Prices
| |ICCO daily |ICCO daily |London |New York |
| |price |price |futures |futures |
| |(SDRs/tone) |(US$/tone) |(£/tone) |(US$/tone) |
|11th Aug |1714.62 |2724.20 |1464.00 |2684.00 |
|12th Aug |1731.64 |2738.27 |1476.33 |2708.33 |
|13th Aug |1730.50 |2734.19 |1502.00 |2699.67 |
|14th Aug |1711.99 |2704.64 |1484.33 |2664.67 |
|15th Aug |1678.03 |2633.70 |1452.00 |2594.33 |
|Average |1713.00 |2707.00 |1476.00 |2670.00 |
Up-coming Events
• 71st General Assembly and Council of Ministers Meetings, 8th – 12th September 2008, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
• National Academies Cocoa Symposium 2008, 28th – 30th October 2008, Kumasi, Ghana
|Health and Nutrition |Chocolate-makers raise the bar |
|Small, Sweet and Healthful: Chocoholics rejoice |DJ Barry Callebaut Cameroon buys 21,000 tons cocoa beans for 08 |
|Rx: One square of dark chocolate a day |Namau gets cocoa grinder |
|Eating dark chocolate every day keeps you healthy |Cadbury and the chocolate factory |
|Dark Chocolate Health Benefits - Good News For Chocolate Lovers! |Hershey to raise prices 11 percent |
|New Guylian Extra Dark Seashells with 74% cocoa and extra antioxidants - Pure|Sales of sweets up despite sour economy |
|indulgence without the guilt |Swiss export more chocolate to China |
| |Hershey boosts prices as commodities cost more |
|Production and Quality |New Cargill center to focus on Asia markets |
|Indonesia to produce one million tons of cocoa in 2013 |Barry Callebaut pursues growth in India with new academy |
|Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen 1.294 mln T by Aug 10 |Chocolate and snacks shrink but the price stays the same |
|‘Adoption of hybrid cocoa will take Nigeria back to number one position’ |Ivory Coast doubles cocoa, coffee export tax |
|Ivorian rain supports cocoa crop, black pod fear |Price hike hammers Hershey |
|Reuters Ghana, Ghana |AAK builds profits on cocoa butter equivalents |
|WAQASAVOU - Tevita’s chocolate dream | |
|Sweet deal for cocoa farmers |Labour Issues |
|Cameroon 2007/08 cocoa exports up at 162,222 T |Cocoa Companies fail to let consumers know which chocolate is produced |
|Ivorian San Pedro cocoa arrivals 559,704T by Aug 10 |without Child Labor |
|Ghana cocoa purchases up at 10,483 T by July 31 | |
|Cameroon Cocoa Exports Decline 16% on Poor Quality (Update1) |Environmental Issues |
|Cameroon 2007/08 cocoa exports up at 162,222 T |Advocating an Unusual Role for Trees |
|Ivory Coast Cocoa Farmers Face Pesticide Shortage | |
|Cameroon cocoa off 7-year highs as supplies rise |Research and Development |
|Cameroon Cocoa exports decline 16% on poor quality (Update1) |British research club to target diet and health |
| |A sweet surprise |
|The Market | |
|Ivorian cocoa prices mixed, buyers awaited |Others |
|Foods and Softs Outlook |Cocoa farmers educated on ways to fight swollen shoot |
|COCOA NEAR TERM RALLY |COCOBOD organises forum for cocoa farmers from Asunsu Number One |
| |Ivorian cocoa farmers worry over poor pest control |
|Processing & Manufacturing |Ivorian ministers to testify in cocoa graft case |
|New Cocoa processing factory in Kumasi |Cocoa training of agric officers ends in Kumasi |
|New code to protect image of Belgian chocolate |RPT-Ivory Coast's West safer, fear of militia lingers |
|Hershey Expects FY08 EPS At Lower End Of Outlook Range; Hikes Prices To |Eco-labels on food can cook up confusion |
|Tackle Rising Commodity Costs – Update |Ivorian ministers to testify in cocoa graft case |
| |80% of Lawyers Living on Biscuits and Chocolate |
|Business & Economy |Even In These Hard Times, Candy Is Dandy |
|Ivory Coast doubles cocoa, coffee export tax |UN finances '1,000 microprojects' for ex-fighters in I.Coast |
|Cargill keen on cocoa, specialty fats businesses |Oil Cannot Solve Our Problems |
In the News (from Newspapers worldwide)
International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE)
London Futures Market – Summary of Trading Activities
(£ per tonne)
|Monday |11th Aug |2008 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |Daily High |Daily Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |1461 |1461 |-2 |1488 |1455 |2,076 |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |1461 |1473 |12 |1483 |1461 |2,114 |
|Wednesday |13th Aug |2008 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |1480 |1498 |25 |1500 |1465 |1,642 |
|Thursday |14th Aug |2008 | | | | |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |1500 |1479 |-19 |1513S |1476 |1,940 |
|Month |Opening Trans |Settle |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |1470 |1440 |-39 |1481 |1436 |
| | | | | |35,792 |
New York Board of Trade
(New York Futures Market – Summary of Trading Activities)
(US$ per tonne)
|Monday |11th Aug |2008 | | | | |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |2687 |2670 |-18 |2735 |2662 |10300 |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |2670 |2693 |23 |2719 |2639 |9466 |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |2700 |2691 |-2 |2718 |2644 |10,291 |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |2707 |2657 |-34 |2744 |2603 |7,387 |
|Month |Open |Price |Change |High |Low |Volume |
|Sep 2008 |2651 |2597 |-60 |2651 |2569 |
Spot Prices [US$ per tonne]
| |11th August |12th August |13th August |14th August |15th August |
|Main Crop Ghana, Grade 1 |3137 |3160 |3158 |3124 |3046 |
|Main Crop Ivory Coast, Grade 1 |2985 |3008 |3006 |2972 |2894 |
|Main Crop Nigerian, 1 |2970 |2993 |2991 |2957 |2877 |
|Superior Arriba |2997 |3020 |3018 |2984 |2910 |
|Sanchez f.a.q. |3002 |3025 |3023 |2989 |2922 |
|Malaysian 110 |2677 |2700 |2698 |2664 |2574 |
|Sulawesi f.a.q. |2912 |2935 |2933 |2899 |2829 |
|Ecuador Cocoa Liquor |4423 |4461 |4458 |4402 |4309 |
|Pure Prime Press African Type Cocoa Butter |7601 |7666 |7660 |7564 |7373 |
|10/12% Natural Cocoa Press Cake |1121 |1131 |1130 |1116 |1061 |
Source: Cocoa Merchants’ Association-
News
Health and Nutrition
Small, Sweet and Healthful: Chocoholics rejoice
, India - 12-08-08
Chocoholics can now devour their favourite sweets without feeling guilty. A recent study shows that savouring a square of dark chocolate every day has many health benefits. The August issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource has revealed the benefits of dark chocolate. The benefits are thought to derive from flavonoids. Found in red wine, tea, certain vegetables and fruits in addition to dark chocolate, flavonoids is a naturally occurring antioxidant.
Robert Sheeler, M.D., a family physician at Mayo Clinic, remarked, “We think a lot of bad things that happen to the cardiovascular system are because the lining of the vessels cracks and becomes inflamed, setting the stage for plaques to form and rupture.”
Dr Sheeler mentions that a whole chocolate bar is not required to gain the health benefits. Just about 30 calories worth, that’s nearly a square, will provide the necessary benefits. The study suggests that consumption of 6 grams of dark chocolate a day, nearly about a square lowers systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 2 points each. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels may also be lowered by dark chocolate by 5 points. Associated with a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, the flavonoids in dark chocolate also have a beneficial effect on how the lining of the blood vessels function. In addition it sends “bad cholesterol” in the right direction.
Still, one shouldn’t forget that chocolates contain calories and fat. In general, as Dr Sheeler recommends, health benefits can be gained by chocolate that contains at least 60 percent cocoa. Typically, 15 percent to 25 percent cocoa is found in milk chocolate.
Rx: One square of dark chocolate a day
Health News
United Press International, Inc, Aug. 13, 2008
Close
ROCHESTER, Minn., Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. doctor prescribes eating one square of 60 percent to 80 percent dark chocolate a day -- about 30 calories worth.
Dr. Robert Sheeler, a family physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says there's no need to eat a whole chocolate bar since chocolate contains calories and fat; however, one square a day will provide health benefits.
Dark chocolate's health benefits are attributed to flavonoids -- naturally occurring antioxidants that help prevent some of the effects of aging on the body, the Mayo Clinic Women's Health Source says.
Sheeler says one study showed 6 grams of dark chocolate a day -- one square -- lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 2 points each.
Dark chocolate also may lower low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the "bad" cholesterol levels by about 5 points. Also, flavonoids have a beneficial effect on how the lining of the blood vessels function.
"We think a lot of bad things that happen to the cardiovascular system are because the lining of the vessels cracks and becomes inflamed, setting the stage for plaques to form and rupture," Sheeler said in a statement.
Eating dark chocolate every day keeps you healthy
Oneindia, India
By: ANI
11/08/2008
Chocoholics now have a justified reason to savour their favourite sweet, for a new study has found that eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day offers many health benefits.
According to the August issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, the benefits are derived from flavonoids in dark chocolate. Flavonoids are a naturally occurring antioxidant that also are found in teas, red wine and some fruits and vegetables. The flavonoids in dark chocolate have been associated with a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system.
One recent study showed that 6 grams of dark chocolate a day, about one square, lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 2 points each. Dark chocolate also may lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels by about 5 points. While not a huge affect, it's sending that "bad" cholesterol in the right direction.
Also, flavonoids have a beneficial effect on how the lining of the blood vessels function. "We think a lot of bad things that happen to the cardiovascular system are because the lining of the vessels cracks and becomes inflamed, setting the stage for plaques to form and rupture," says Robert Sheeler, M.D., a family physician at Mayo Clinic. To gain the health benefits, there's no need to eat a whole chocolate bar. After all, chocolate still contains calories and fat.
Dr. Sheeler says just one square a day, about 30 calories worth, will provide the health benefits. Generally, to gain health benefits, Dr. Sheeler recommends chocolate that contains at least 60 percent cocoa. Milk chocolate typically has 15 percent to 25 percent cocoa
Dark Chocolate Health Benefits - Good News For Chocolate Lovers!
Keywords: Nutrition, Antioxidants, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Diabetes, Minerals
The Healthier Life, UK
Date: 12/08/08
Studies to date highlight dark chocolate's health values because it has the highest percentage of cocoa solids, which are rich in cell- protecting antioxidants. Surprised? Many people are. That's because they forget that chocolate is a plant-based food and ounce for ounce, dark chocolate and cocoa have more antioxidants than blueberries, green tea and red wine... This should bring a smile to most people's faces... it's a report on the health benefits linked to chocolate.
But before you tuck into a crème egg or packet of Minstrels, it's important to point out that these benefits don't apply to milk or white chocolate, which don't have the same nutritional value as dark chocolate. Studies to date highlight dark chocolate's health values because it has the highest percentage of cocoa solids, which are rich in cell- protecting antioxidants.
Surprised? Many people are. That's because they forget that chocolate is a plant-based food and ounce for ounce, dark chocolate and cocoa have more antioxidants than blueberries, green tea and red wine.
Plants naturally produce antioxidants to help them endure harsh growing conditions and to protect them from environmental stress. Scientists believe and have proven that these same compounds can aid the humans who eat the plants too.
Benefits, benefits, benefits
It's more than wishful thinking, researchers have found a diverse range of benefits linked to dark chocolate:
• Antioxidant Powerhouse: Recent studies suggest that the antioxidants in dark chocolate may reduce the risk of many kinds of illnesses, from heart disease to cancer. Dark chocolate and cocoa are particularly high in flavonoids (phenolic compounds) which help protect your heart by deactivating unstable molecules in your blood called free radicals. Free radicals can aggravate the bad cholesterol in your blood and lead to clogged arteries. In clinical trials, dark chocolate has reduced blood pressure, improved blood flow, showed mild anti-clotting effects and may help prevent plaque formation in the arteries.
• Smokers: The journal HEART published the findings of a study conducted in Sweden, which found that smokers who eat a small amount of dark chocolate can improve their artery function within hours.
• Good news for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome - research indicates that dark chocolate could help alleviate symptoms associated with the condition.
• Mineral Rich: Chocolate and cocoa naturally contain copper, magnesium and potassium, which are vital for good health. One average dark chocolate bar provides nearly 12 percent of your daily requirement for magnesium. This may be important for people at risk of several chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
• Sweet news for managing blood sugar: Even though dark chocolate has a reputation for being very sweet it has a low glycemic index which is very similar to oatmeal. This means that it doesn't send your blood sugar sky-high. In addition, the antioxidants in dark chocolate and cocoa may aid bad circulation and unhealthy blood vessels that often pave the way to the development of diabetes, while also possibly improving cells' sensitivity to insulin and glucose. Of course the rules of moderation apply - diet and weight control for people at risk for diabetes is especially important.
New Guylian Extra Dark Seashells with 74% cocoa and extra antioxidants - Pure indulgence without the guilt
Response Source (press release), UK
By: Lawson Dodd
13 August 2008
Guylian, renowned for their world famous original marbled Chocolate Sea Shells, has created new extra dark chocolate Sea Shells with 74% cocoa. Filled with a unique hazelnut praline filling, made to a secret recipe, the new Extra Sea Shells are the ultimate in indulgence. This new recipe includes ACTICOA™ cocoa, which preserves the antioxidants that naturally occur in the cocoa bean but are normally lost through chocolate production. Guylian Extra Sea Shells, however, are rich in antioxidants and retain the flavour of luxury premium chocolate. Just two of these great tasting Guylian Extra Dark Chocolate Sea Shells contain 60 per cent of the daily need of antioxidants.
Extra dark
Dark chocolate is gaining popularity throughout the world due to it’s health benefits. Guylian Extra’s beautifully sculpted shells are made of premium quality Belgian dark chocolate with 74% cocoa; Guylian’s extra dark chocolate is made of the best West-African cocoa beans, delivering an intense and long lasting taste.
Extra taste
Guylian’s Master Chocolatiers have created a new exquisite taste striking a perfect balance between the 74% dark chocolate shell and the hazelnut praliné filling. Only the finest hand selected hazelnuts from the Mediterranean are blended with ACTICOA™ cocoa. Guylian’s hazelnut praliné filling is still produced according to a unique recipe, giving Guylian’s chocolates their signature taste.
Extra antioxidants
Guylian Extra Sea Shells have a unique high antioxidants level, thanks to ACTICOA™, a special production process which ensures that the naturally occurring polyphenols from the cocoa bean, most of which are lost in standard chocolate production processes, are retained.
ACTICOA™ antioxidants have proven positive effects on the body and mind: helping to protect against the aging process, enhance concentration, maintain a strong memory, strengthen the immune system, and to maintain a healthy cholesterol level and blood pressure.
Pure Indulgence without the guilt
Guylian Extra Sea Shells are the perfect chocolate indulgence to enjoy without the guilt. Now, there’s no reason to resist these Belgian chocolate delicacies. First class ingredients deliver a delicious new taste and a health benefit. Discover, taste & enjoy!
Two chocolates a day
Two delicious Guylian Extra Sea Shells a day provide your body with more than 60 per cent of the daily amount of antioxidants needed to maintain a healthy balance in body and mind, especially when under stress or aging. A varied and well balanced diet together with regular physical activity is part of a healthy life style.
Guylian is one of the world’s leading brands of premium Belgian boxed chocolates. This family-owned and 100% Belgian company sells its Belgian Chocolates creations into more than 100 countries. Guylian is well known and loved around the world for its exquisite original Belgian chocolate seashells – in dark, milk and white chocolate with hazelnut praliné filling. Today, the company offers a broad range of gift chocolates, individually wrapped premium every day chocolates and luxury chocolate bars for sharing and self indulgence.
COCOA ANTIOXIDANTS AND THEIR HEALTH BENEFITS
Cocoa flavanols
The cocoa bean contains flavanols, which belong to the category of the polyphenols. Polyphenols are natural components found in fruits, vegetables, black and green tea, red wine and also in cocoa. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants, protecting the body against the effect of free radicals.
Free radicals damage our cells and in case of overabundance they accelerate the ageing process and can threaten general well being. The presence of free radicals is triggered by stress, pollution, direct exposure to sunlight, unbalanced diet, smoking etc.
Food rich in polyphenols
Cocoa flavanols are the most powerful antioxidants. They are higher in number and of better quality than antioxidants from any other food product. One of the scientific methods most used to compare the antioxidant capacity of various foods is called the ORAC method (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). It measures the ability of foods to neutralize the free radicals. Food nutritionists recommend a minimum daily intake of polyphenols equivalent to 4000 ORAC. We need this to maintain a good balance between antioxidants and free radical activity in our body.
High quality cocoa and chocolate can help us to maintain this balance more easily. The chart below shows that cocoa and chocolate – compared to other food – are naturally very rich in antioxidants.
ACTICOA™
ACTICOA™ is a revolutionary production process developed by Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products. It ensures that the naturally occurring flavanols from the cocoa bean, most of which are lost in standard chocolate production processes, are preserved.
Hans Vriens, Chief Innovation Officer at Barry Callebaut, explains: “In the conventional chocolate making process 70% of the cocoa polyphenols are lost. Through extensive research of the complete process from the cocoa bean to the finished chocolate, Barry Callebaut succeeded in developing the ACTICOA™ process in which up to 80 per cent of the flavanols found in the raw cocoa beans are preserved. Besides preserving the health promoting effects of the cocoa polyphenols, the ACTICOATM process results in an excellent chocolate taste.”
ACTICOA™ does not add any extracts or other chemical substances, and does not influence in any way the natural indulgent taste of chocolate.
THE 5 HEALTH BENEFIT AREAS OF ANTIOXIDANTS
Heart health
• Is good to your heart
• Helps to maintain healthy blood circulation
• Helps to maintain healthy cholesterol level
Cognitive performance under stress and strain
• Contributes to enhance concentration
• Helps to increase your capacity and ability to memorize
• Contributes to stimulate the brain
Immune system
• Helps to strengthen the immune system in an entirely natural way
• Contribute to support the immune system, especially when one is in continuous stress and strain situations
Anti-aging
• Helps to maintain strong memory, especially when getting older
• Helps to stay active whilst aging
Beauty from inside
• Helps to keep the skin hydrated
• Contributes to reduce wrinkles
Barry-Callebaut performed more than 25 clinical studies to substantiate these claims. More information on For more information, images or samples, please contact Sophie or Aarti on 0207 5351355 or email sophie.myers@lawsondodd.co.uk
Production and Quality
Indonesia to produce one million tons of cocoa in 2013
Antara, Indonesia
08/12/08
Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - The Agriculture Ministry, through a national movement to increase the production and quality of cocoa launched by Vice President Yusuf Kalla, has projected cocoa production in 2013 at one million tons.
Plantations Director General of the Agriculture Ministry Achmad Mangga Barani said here on Monday cocoa production could be boosted by rehabilitating pest-ridden cocoa crops in 450 hectares in Sulawesi. "In 2011, rehabilitation is scheduled for completion, and hopefully in 2013 the plantation will produce one million tons of cocoa," he said.
According to him, of the 450,000 hectares of cocoa crops in Sulawesi, 70,000 ha had been seriously attacked by pests and disease, 235,000 ha half-damaged and 145,000 ha slightly damaged. This, he added, had made Sulawesi the biggest contributor (65.2 percent) of the national cocoa production, which had dropped by 30 percent.
The cocoa plantation had reached 912,000 hectares, or 63 percent of the national cocoa plantations of 1.4 million ha, while Sulawesi`s cocoa production reached 508,135 tons per year and 779,186 tons on a national scale. (*)
Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen 1.294 mln T by Aug 10
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
11 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast totalled around 1,294,000 tonnes from Oct. 1 to Aug. 10, exporters estimated on Monday, compared with 1,173,000 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
Exporters estimated around 5,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports in the week of Aug. 4-10, up from 3,170 tonnes in the same week a year earlier. That compared with 7,226 tonnes of beans arriving at Abidjan and San Pedro ports in the previous week. (Reporting by Ange Aboa, editing by Alistair Thomson)
‘Adoption of hybrid cocoa will take Nigeria back to number one position’
Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria
By Seye Adeniyi
13-08-2008
It is only the adoption of early maturing, special type disease-resistance, high yielding cocoa specie that can make Nigeria which was formerly number one cocoa producer in the continent of Africa to take over from Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana which are presently occupying the first and second positions respectively on the cocoa producing map of Africa.
The Executive Director of Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN),Ibadan, Professor Gerald Iremiren, gave this word of assurance while speaking with Tribune Agriculture in his office recently.
Professor Gerald Iremiren
According to him, the Cocoa Rebirth Programme of the federal government has created a lot of awareness about the rescucitation and rejuvenation of many cocoa farms in the country, but our cocoa farmers in the country need to accept modern reality therefore, there is need to back, support as well as justify their acceptance of the cocoa rebirth campaign going on in the country with the adoption of early maturing, disease-resistance species of cocoa by planting it on a very large scale.
“When they do this, then the National Cocoa Development Committee will be more happy that their tireless work and campaign is yielding positive results and we cocoa experts will also be happy that the result of our various researches yielding good fruits. We should all know that the essence of any research outcome is for wide acceptability and adoption by the end users, any research results that is not adopted is like exercise in futility.
Therfore, farmers should intensity their planting of early maturing type of cocoa, as this will reduce the problems associated with cocoa production in the country.Prof. Iremiren also said other advantages of early maturing types of cocoa apart expert from good profit is that it fruits within 18 months and by the end of 24 months, bountiful harvest is certain.
The CRIN boss further explained that in the next three years, the on-going seed garden project would have been established in 21 sub-stations in the country and in the next 10 years, the new early maturing, disease-resistance varieties would have been considerably improved upon and replace the old type of cocoa, which our forefathers used to plant, but with less profit.
Ivorian rain supports cocoa crop, black pod fear
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
11 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Light rains and sun over the past week in Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions helped healthy development of the coming October-March main crop, farmers and analysts said on Monday. Some farmers in the southwest of the leading cocoa producer said they were seeing increased incidence of black pod disease but the onset of drier weather around the southwestern port of San Pedro appeared likely to contain its spread.
Black pod is caused by a fungus that thrives in wet conditions and tends not to like sunlight. "The rains are light and good for the cocoa trees. There are lots of pods on the trees, but the black pod is reducing their number," said Innocent Zamble, who farms in the Meagui area. "We are spraying the plantations to halt the disease -- we could do with more sunshine at the moment," he said.
But at San Pedro port, 85 km (53 miles) to the south, exporters said rains had slowed to a halt in recent weeks. That would reduce the spread of black pod, but could also slow the development of young pods, causing the coming main crop to drop off after the initial flurry of harvesting activity in September, October and November. "We haven't really had rain for 25 days now and that makes me nervous for the main crop, especially the second half, towards December," said Ali Lakiss, managing director of SAF CACAO, the biggest exporter from San Pedro by volume this season. Lakiss said the weather conditions were likely to have an impact on the long-term output. "I see a main (harvest) that is smaller than expected for the next season." However, rains kept up in other key producing regions further north.
In the centre-western region of Daloa, which accounts for around a quarter of the country's output, farmers and analysts said conditions were good. "We have had sun and light rains falling over long periods, which is just the kind of weather cocoa likes," said Francois M'Bra, who farms near Daloa. "This year's cocoa will be good. Some growers will have new-season cocoa within a week."
Agronomist Albert Konan said the rains would help the cocoa beans swell up inside the pods, giving a good harvest of fat beans in the early stages of the main crop season. Bean size has been a problem in the current April-September mid crop, partly because lack of rainfall earlier in the season meant beans didn't grow very big. Apart from reducing the overall volume of the crop, small beans yield less cocoa butter and other valuable products kg for kg than large beans when ground. "This time the pods are well developed because there has been regular sun and rain. There is no excessive moisture in the plantations, which is a good sign for the coming harvest," Konan said. Conditions were also good in the western regions of Soubre and Gagnoa, farmers said, though rains were lighter last week than in previous weeks.
WAQASAVOU - Tevita’s chocolate dream
Fiji Daily Post, Fiji
KUINI WAQASAVOU - (Ministry of Primary Industries)
15-Aug-2008
COCOA has never been seriously considered as a premium product in the country and the processing of cocoa beans was always done off-shore. But thanks to the hard work and efforts of Namau villagers in Tailevu, cocoa is fast becoming a developing crop and will certainly rise to greater heights in the not too distant future.
For 47-year-old Tevita Niuvou and his group called the Niuvou brothers, the journey ahead for their cocoa farm will be a challenging one but with their minds set on achieving results, anything is possible. Niuvou is one of 14 farmers in Namau who have stuck to cocoa through all odds over the years and they can finally breathe a sigh of relief now as their sweat will finally pay off. “We are just grateful that we are now working with the Ministry of Primary Industries in getting things on the road and we believe that with continued co-operation, we will achieve results together,” he smiled.
After a successful training last year on producing chocolate from their cocoa beans, Tevita is aiming for many things but says that it will all come when the time is right. The village of Namau was trained by two cocoa experts from Cocoa Bello from Sweden which is a non-profit and non-political organisation aimed at developing the agricultural sectors in developing countries. “The representatives stressed to us that the varieties of cocoa cultivated here are regarded as the most exclusive ones and that is why we are putting in all our efforts to keep it that way,” smiled Tevita.
During the training, farmers were engaged in the fermentation of cocoa beans, drying and roasting before the final grinding of the beans into a paste. “When the beans are in paste form, other ingredients are then added to give it flavour and to also give texture that will be the trademark of each chocolate variety,” said Tevita. Samples of the chocolate paste have been sent to Sweden and other chocolate producing countries and the feedback has been positive so far. “We have got back their analysis of the chocolate paste that we had sent and they were impressed because it was so rich in flavour and colour.”
Tevita said they were taught on many other finer aspects of cocoa production and the response from the whole village has been overwhelming. “Cocoa Bello will be setting up an exchange programme where farmers here in Namau will travel to Sweden and it is expected to generate a greater understanding of the need for sustainable agriculture and fair trade. This platform of meetings between local producers in Fiji and representatives from the growing Swedish chocolate market will contribute to increased consumer possibilities when it comes to supporting local developments in the country.
The father of four children said that their rehabilitation program is a five year programme and the main area of concentration is trying to revive their cocoa fields. “There is no need to rush into everything at once, for at the moment we are concentrating on rehabilitating our current cocoa trees and doing a lot of cleaning and pruning to the trees,” said Tevita.
During a tree count in 1987, 12,800 trees were accounted for and according to Tevita; they would have to do a recount to determine on exactly the number of trees on the ground. To establish the finer process of refining cocoa beans among the farmers would contribute to a lot of things and one of them would be the production of an organic and more wholesome high quality chocolate. According to Niuvou the product could with a lot of advantages be sold locally to the tourists that flock to our shores each year. “By re-establishing a chocolate culture and in a way contributing to eco-tourism, Fiji could set a good example when it comes to sustainable exploitation of available resources,” explained Niuvou. With the opening of niche markets for cocoa, the Ministry of Primary Industries has set its sight on training more farmers on cocoa production.
Director of Extension Services Fiuwaki Waqalala said in this new era of technology, farmers have to move away from the traditional methods of planting. “I want all the farmers to understand that we have to move along with the tides of change and in order for us to achieve more from the farm, we have to invest more into the farm and that is why we have to think technology and use farm machineries to properly carry out the work,” Waqalala explained.
“There are endless opportunities that have not been tapped and I believe that given all that the farmers have learnt, they will be able to increase their knowledge and interest in cocoa farming at a larger scale,” he added.
“Cocoa is a cash crop of high potential value and there is consistent world demand for the next two to three decades,” he explained.
“Pacific cocoa produces less than three per cent of the world cocoa but the strength lies in the fine flavour of it which is about nine per cent.”
“Papua New Guinea produces more cocoa than Fiji but like all other cocoa producing countries is constantly threatened with pests and diseases,” explained Waqalala.
“This will help the farmers to understand the problem and solve it so that production of the cocoa tree is not hindered in any way.”
Currently the ministry has programmes for cocoa which are not classified as major ones since the market was not well defined when the program had started. Waqalala added that the Agricultural Marketing Authority of Fiji have identified certain markets which they will capitalize on. “Tailevu Cocoa Growers Association has the largest and most probably the only cocoa growers association in the country and that is why we are using them as a model to develop the commodity to industry level,” added Waqalala.
What was once a neglected crop is now on the verge of a massive recovery and in a way can develop faster to becoming a major crop in the country. “I guess the onus is now on us and other cocoa producing regions in the country to produce more and keep on working hard to achieve results,” smiled Tevita.
Sweet deal for cocoa farmers
Fiji Times, Fiji
August 16, 2008
Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Dr Richard Beyer buys locally made chocolate at Namau.+ Enlarge this image Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Dr Richard Beyer buys locally made chocolate at Namau. Cocoa farmers around the country will receive a chunk of next year's budgetary allocations to boost production.
Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Doctor Richard Beyer told a group of farmers in Namau, Tailevu North on Thursday his ministry would ask the Finance Ministry to allocate funding for the cocoa industry for 2009. He said this should help farmers maintain their farms through pest control, and planting and purchasing of small scale processing equipments. Dr Beyer was in Namau to officially handover a cocoa grinding machine and a generator kindly donated by the Chinese Government.
A memorandum of understanding between the Prime Minister's Office and Namau Cocoa Farmers Co-operative was signed prior to the handover. Under the agreement, government will continue to monitor the purpose of the machine and ensure proper records and books of accounts in the operation of the project are kept and maintained. Dr Beyer told the farmers Government was willing to assist rural dwellers particularly those who helped themselves. He said the new machine would generate employment for people in Tailevu North.
Cocoa farming was introduced in the early 1970s when the world market was at its peak. It collapsed in the 1990s due to the unfavourable market price which led to price fluctuations in the local market. The availability of more lucrative alternative crops also contributed to the downfall.
Meanwhile, the use of manual grinding machine will be a thing of the past for Namau farmers who have been producing pure organic chocolate from their homes. The new grinder will turn the dried cocoa beans into powder within a short period, unlike the few hours spent on the manual grinder, The farmers will be taught on how to operate and maintain the grinder and the diesel generator which was bought for $6800.
Namau Cocoa Growers Co-operative chairman Sikeli Turaganivalu said the donation was eye opening and further boosted farmers' morale who had neglected cocoa farming over the years. He said the farmers would now work closely with the Agricultural Ministry and interested parties to assist them in the replanting and marketing processes.
Maciu Rabicilada, 69, said the occasion was a new chapter in his life. "I've been planting cocoa for the past 30 years but little was done for us with the focus being on sugar. The new grin
Cameroon 2007/08 cocoa exports up at 162,222 T
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
By Tansa Musa
14 Aug 2008
YAOUNDE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Cameroon's cocoa exports rose to 162,222 tonnes by July 31, the end of the 2007/08 season, from 157,378 tonnes the previous year, National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB)and the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) data showed on Thursday.
Monthly exports in July were down at 3,405 tonnes, compared with 5,510 tonnes in July 2007. Cameroon is the world's fifth biggest cocoa grower
Ivorian San Pedro cocoa arrivals 559,704T by Aug 10
Fri 15 Aug 2008, 9:30 GMT
ABIDJAN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Cocoa arrivals at Ivory Coast's port of San Pedro reached 559,704 tonnes from Oct. 1 to Aug. 10, data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) obtained by Reuters on Friday showed. That compared with 472,182 tonnes delivered to the port during the same period of the 2006/07 season, the data showed.
The figures showed 3,387 tonnes arrived at San Pedro port from August 4 to Aug. 10, up from 1,847 tonnes in the same period of the 2006/07 season. Data for the port of Abidjan were not immediately available.
Ghana cocoa purchases up at 10,483 T by July 31
Sat 16 Aug 2008, 7:47 GMT
ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana cocoa purchases declared to Cocobod totaled 10,482.6 tonnes for the first five weeks of the 2008 light crop, 13 percent up on the 9,264.5 tonnes bought in the same period a year ago, an industry source said on Friday. Purchases for the week ending July 31 were 558.6 tonnes, down on the 1,341 purchased in the fifth week of last year's light crop season and also from the previous week's 1,155 tonnes. The significant fall in declared purchases in the fifth week was a result of the volumes of mature pods tailing off, the source said, adding that there might be an end of season increase in prices offered to farmers.
Declared purchases from the preceding main season reached 663,000 tonnes, up from 559,914 tonnes last year. Cocobod had hoped this year would result in a record crop in excess of 700,000 tonnes but the smuggling of beans, especially to neighbouring Ivory Coast, forced a revision of the target.
A Cocobod official estimated at the end of July that about 50,000 tonnes of cocoa from Ghana has been smuggled abroad this crop year, including around 20,000 tonnes from the current light crop.
The target for the light crop is now 40,000 tonnes, down from initial expectations of 50,000-60,000 tonnes.
Ghanaian cocoa commands a quality premium over Ivorian beans on international markets. But farmgate prices in Ivory Coast have exceeded Ghana's fixed price, in part due to Ghana's weakening cedi currency.
Cocobod fixes a uniform farmgate price in Ghana, whereas prices in Ivory Coast fluctuate with the market, quality and on how far the beans must be transported for export.
Since February Ghanaian farmers have received a fixed 1,200 cedis/tonne while floating farmgate prices in most parts of Ivory Coast have ranged between 400 and 600 CFA francs/kg for much of the past month, according to data from Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC).
The source said that although no decision had been formally made, the government might raise farmgate prices in Ghana towards the end of the season. "The issue of real time pricing cannot be overlooked, especially when it is hurting you so badly as we are seeing now," he said.
Cameroon Cocoa Exports Decline 16% on Poor Quality (Update1)
By Pius Lukong
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Cocoa exports from Cameroon, the world's fifth-biggest producer of the chocolate ingredient, dropped 16 percent last week because of poor bean quality, the Cocoa and Coffee Board said. Shipments from the country's main port of Douala fell to 2,647 metric tons in the week through Aug. 11, from 3,146 tons a year earlier, the board said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Volumes dropped after some suppliers offered ``low-quality products to exporters,'' said Richard Adzogo, an official in charge of the board's Cocoa and Coffee Information System.
Cameroon is forecast to produce 185,000 metric tons of cocoa this year, according to the International Cocoa Organization. Ivory Coast is the world's biggest producer of the beans. The average export price last week climbed to 1,190 CFA Francs ($2.73) a kilogram from 1,170 francs the week before, Adzogo said.
Beans from Cameroon's western growing-region fetched 937 francs, compared with 938 francs previously, the Cocoa and Coffee Inter-Professional Council said in a separate e-mailed statement. Cocoa from the central region sold for 933 francs, from 935 francs a kilogram, while beans from the southern region fetched 930 francs, from 932 francs, the council said.
Cameroon 2007/08 cocoa exports up at 162,222 T
Thu 14 Aug 2008, 17:18 GMT
YAOUNDE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Cameroon's cocoa exports rose to 162,222 tonnes by July 31, the end of the 2007/08 season, from 157,378 tonnes the previous year, National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB)and the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board (CCIB) data showed on Thursday.
Monthly exports in July were down at 3,405 tonnes, compared with 5,510 tonnes in July 2007. Cameroon is the world's fifth biggest cocoa grower. (Reporting by Tansa Musa)
Ivory Coast Cocoa Farmers Face Pesticide Shortage
Source: Reuters
18/08/2008
Daloa, Aug 18 - Poor distribution of pesticides has left swathes of cocoa farms in Ivory Coast's centre-west heartland untreated and may reduce output in the upcoming 2008-09 season, farmers and exporters said on Monday.
Coordinated programmes to treat cocoa trees against disease have resumed after a two year halt, but farmers say coverage this year was limited to just 30 percent of their requirements around Daloa, in the centre-west, due to lack of funds.
Fungicides and pesticides to control diseases such as blackpod and swollen shoot are meant to be distributed by the Fund for the Development and Promotion of Coffee-Cocoa Activity (FDPCC), which helps farmers in the world's top cocoa producer. "The fund only gives one or two boxes to treat all our fields, which total 5 hectares. With that you can only treat 2 or 3 hectares, once a year, instead of the four times you are meant to do it," farmer Denis Djedje told Reuters. "We can't achieve good production with that, even though we all chip in," he said at his farm 20 km (13 miles) from Daloa.
The FDPCC is a union funded through a 25 CFA franc ($0.056) levy on each kilogram of cocoa sold and aims to improve production as well as working conditions in the cocoa industry.
During a visit to farms around Daloa, farmers told a Reuters reporter the distribution of pesticides covered just 30 percent of their needs. Bunches of green pods were visible on trees, along with flowers and buds. But, from the trees shown to Reuters by farmers, volumes appeared to be roughly half the amounts that were seen in the record seasons of 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. "This year's production might be good, but if we had treated our fields when we should have done, i.e. in June and July, we might be having a greater production," said Julien Dali, a grower at Ouragahio, 25 km (16 miles) from the town of Gagnoa. Farmers in the Sinfra area complained in particular about swollen shoot while elsewhere blackpod has been a problem.
CRISIS
Ivory Coast is emerging from a civil war sparked by a failed 2002 coup against President Laurent Gbagbo. The worst fighting ended after a few months, but the country remained split for years into a rebel-held north and government-controlled south. Although the cocoa industry was not greatly affected, insecurity and informal taxation by armed men on all sides drove costs up and undermined the confidence of farmers to expand.
A crack-down on graft has also created uncertainty in the cocoa sector after the detentions on corruption charges of several high-ranking industry officials. As the country heads towards polls, which are planned for November but risk being again delayed, one exporter called for a sanguine approach to concerns about production in the Daloa region, which was one of the most affected by the war. "It may be true that we have slightly lower volumes at the beginning of the 2008/09 season, at least over the first three or four weeks, but I think things will sort themselves out," said the exporter, who is based in Daloa.
But he did share the farmers' concerns about the emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in the area. "In the long-term, we need to find a solution to the lack of pesticides, especially with the increasing strength of the diseases cocoa is facing, otherwise, if nothing is done, we risk having some difficult seasons if nothing is done," he said.
Cameroon cocoa off 7-year highs as supplies rise
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
By Tansa Musa
14 Aug 2008
YAOUNDE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Cameroon cocoa prices have dipped from last month's 7-year high as supplies in the world's fifth-biggest grower increased, farmers said on Thursday.
Cocoa was selling in the main trading centre of Kumba at 960-970 CFA francs per kg ($2.21), down from 1,000 francs in July, said Jospeh Nde, manager of Cameroon Marketing Commodities (CAMACO), a major cocoa producing and exporting company in the south west province. "There is this slight drop in prices because we are seeing many more beans today than last month. Supply is increasing slowly but steadily," Nde said.
Benchmark futures in New York at $2,727 per tonne have fallen around $500 from last month's 28-year peak, but historically high prices have attracted unlicensed buyers to country's economic capital, Douala, looking to sell abroad.
Some farmers warned prices in Cameroon would drop sharply in the coming months as heavy rains had already damaged roads. "This will prevent many buyers coming in, and the few who dare travel the bad roads will dictate their prices to farmers," said Dickson Tambe Ashu, manager of the Mamfe Central Area Cooperative Union.
Prices were steady at 800-850 CFA francs per kg, he said. The cocoa season in the central African country runs from August 1 to July 31 of the following year, with peak harvesting and marketing from November to January. The mid-crop is harvested from May to July or early August.
Cameroon Cocoa exports decline 16% on poor quality (Update1)
Bloomberg
By Pius Lukong
Aug. 11
(Bloomberg) -- Cocoa exports from Cameroon, the world's fifth-biggest producer of the chocolate ingredient, dropped 16 percent last week because of poor bean quality, the Cocoa and Coffee Board said. Shipments from the country's main port of Douala fell to 2,647 metric tons in the week through Aug. 11, from 3,146 tons a year earlier, the board said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Volumes dropped after some suppliers offered ``low-quality products to exporters,'' said Richard Adzogo, an official in charge of the board's Cocoa and Coffee Information System.
Cameroon is forecast to produce 185,000 metric tons of cocoa this year, according to the International Cocoa Organization. Ivory Coast is the world's biggest producer of the beans.
The average export price last week climbed to 1,190 CFA Francs ($2.73) a kilogram from 1,170 francs the week before, Adzogo said.
Beans from Cameroon's western growing-region fetched 937 francs, compared with 938 francs previously, the Cocoa and Coffee Inter-Professional Council said in a separate e-mailed statement. Cocoa from the central region sold for 933 francs, from 935 francs a kilogram, while beans from the southern region fetched 930 francs, from 932 francs, the council said.
The Market
Ivorian cocoa prices mixed, buyers awaited
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
14 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Cocoa buying in the main growing areas of world's top producer Ivory Coast was sluggish last week as farmers waited for big exporting firms to return to the market, farmers said on Thursday.
Weekly Coffee and Cocoa Bourse farm-gate price data were not available because of logistical problems, an official at the marketing body said.
In the western region of Meagui, near Soubre the heart of the cocoa belt, farmers said prices had risen as merchants were looking to build stocks before major exporters restarted buying. "Merchants have raised their prices. They bought at 400 CFA francs ($0.910) per kg compared with between 300 and 375 two weeks ago," said farmer Innocent Zamble whose farm is on the outskirts of Meagui.
Benchmark prices in New York traded at $2,730 per tonne on Thursday, around $500 below the 28-year high they hit in July. Dealers said the market's attention was focused on Ivorian bean quality.
In the western Ivorian region of Gagnoa, farmers said the average price had fallen and ranged between 250 CFA francs per kg and 300 as merchants said it reflected the port delivery price. They added many growers were reluctant to sell and were awaiting the return of big buyers to the market. "Cocoa has started coming out slowly," said cooperative manager Francois Badiel in Ouragahio, near Gagnoa. "Merchants say that prices at the port aren't attractive, and some planters are refusing to sell to merchants. They are holding back for the return of the big exporters."
In the western region of Sinfra, farmer Denis Kouadio said cocoa supply from the bush remained tight but the farm-gate price rose to 300 CFA francs per kg from 250 since the start of the month.
Below are average farm-gate prices in CFA francs per kg as quoted by private buyers, cooperatives and shippers, and published by the BCC. Included are prices paid on delivery at San Pedro and Abidjan ports.
Aug 4-10 July 28-Aug 3
Abengourou n/a n/a
Aboisso n/a 430
Adzope n/a 550
Agboville n/a n/a
Bongouanou n/a n/a
Daloa n/a n/a
Divo n/a n/a
Gagnoa n/a n/a
San Pedro n/a 495
Sassandra n/a n/a
Sinfra n/a n/a
Soubre n/a 375
-------------------------------------------------------
Abidjan (port) n/a 660
San Pedro (port) n/a 620
Foods and Softs Outlook
Friday, August 15, 2008
by CRB Research Team of Commodity Research Bureau
Foods and Softs Outlook - An Excerpt from CRB'S Futures Market Service
Coffee -
Sep Nybot Arabica coffee prices fell to a 2-month low and are near the bottom of a 5-month range. Coffee prices sold off from a June 30th 5-month high on bearish factors that include (1) dollar strength and general commodity selling, (2) ICO’s forecast for a 8.5% hike in global coffee production in 2008/09 to 128 mln bags from 118 mln bags in 2007/08, and (3) the USDA’s forecast of a 36% y/y rise in Brazil’s harvest starting July to 51.1 mln bags (vs last year’s 37.6 mln bags). Bullish factors include (1) speculation Brazil may subsidize its coffee farmers to ensure a minimum price, and (2) the 6-8 mln bag 2007-08 world coffee deficit. As of Aug 5, large specs increased their moderate long position to 17,735. USDA coffee summary: 2007-08 world coffee production 117.8 mln bags (-4.7% vs 2006-07’s 122.9 mln); 2007-08 world ending
stocks at a record low 18.3 mln bags.
Cocoa -
Sep cocoa prices continued their month-long sell-off to a 2-1/2 month low on long liquidation due to the strengthening dollar. Other bearish factors include (1) the +8% y/y rise in Ivory Coast exports between Oct-Jun 15, (2) ICO’s forecasted 20% decline in the global cocoa deficit to 41,000 MT in the season ended in Sep, and (3) ICO’s forecast of a +10% increase in the 2007-08 global cocoa crop to 3.74 mln tons. Bullish factors include (1) concern about poor quality cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast due to reduced use of high-priced fertilizers and pesticides, and (2) cocoa inventories at a 6-month low. Large specs continued liquidating their moderate long position to 18,063 as of Aug 5.
COCOA NEAR TERM RALLY
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
by Michael Maniatis of LaSalle Futures Group
Inside Futures, IL - 13 Aug 2008
FUTURES AND OPTIONS TRADING INVOLVES SUBSTANTIAL RISK OF LOSS AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS OR TRADERS.
FUNDAMENTALLY, COCOA PRICES COULD SEE A RALLY GOING INTO TOMORROW'S CPI REPORT. WE BELIEVE HIGHER THAN ANTICIPATED 0.4% CPI WILL TRANSLATE TO A DOLLAR SELLOFF TO COULD HELP ENFORCE HIGHER PRICE ACTION IN THE COCOA.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT WITH MOST TRADERS EXITING THE SEPTEMBER COCOA FUTURES CONTRACT AND ENTERING THE NOW FRONT MONTH DECEMBER FUTURES CONTRACT THAT WE HAVE SEEN FROM LAST FRIDAY THROUGH TODAY THE DECEMBER CONTRACT MOVE FROM A PREMIUM OF $28 HIGHER THAN THE SEPTEMBER FUTURES CONVERGE NOW TO BE TODAY TRADING AT A $3 DISCOUNT TO THE SEPTEMBER CONTRACT. WE ARE CURRENTLY AT A MAJOR MARCH & MAY RESISTANCE LEVEL THAT NOW COULD BE NEAR TERM SUPPORT. LOOK FOR OUTSIDE MARKETS LIKE THE DOLLAR AND OTHER COMMODITIES FOR DIRECTION. IN MY OPINION, WITH SUCH A LARGE SELLOFF AND LIQUIDATION IN THE SEPTEMBER CONTRACT, WE MAY SEE A RALLY HIGHER IN THE DEC COCOA OVER THE SHORT TERM. CHARTS COURTESY OF AND CPI INFORMATION FROM
Definition
The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average price level of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by consumers. Monthly changes in the CPI represent the rate of inflation.
Why Do Investors Care?
The consumer price index is the most widely followed indicator of inflation in the United States. An investor who understands how inflation influences the markets will benefit over those investors that do not understand the impact.
Inflation is an increase in the overall prices of goods and services. The relationship between inflation and interest rates is the key to understanding how indicators such as the CPI influence the markets- and your investments.
If someone borrows $100 dollars from you today and promises to repay it in one year with interest, how much interest should you charge? The answer depends largely on inflation as you know the $100 won't be able to buy the same amount of goods and services a year from now. The CPI tells us that prices rose about 4.7 percent a year in the U.S. during the first half of 2006. To recoup your purchasing power, you would have to charge 4.7 percent interest. You might want to add one or two percentage points to cover default and other risks, but inflation remains the key factor behind the interest rate you charge.
Inflation (along with various risks) basically explains how interest rates are set on everything from your mortgage and auto loans to Treasury bills, notes and bonds. As the rate of inflation changes and as expectations on inflation change, the markets adjust interest rates. The effect ripples across stocks, bonds, commodities, and your portfolio, often in a dramatic fashion.
By tracking inflation, whether high or low, rising or falling, investors can anticipate how different types of investments will perform. Over the long run, the bond market will rally (fall) when increases in the CPI are small (large). The equity market rallies with the bond market because low inflation promises low interest rates and is good for profits.
For monetary policy, the Federal Reserve generally follows "core" inflation-inflation excluding volatile food and energy components. The Fed's preferred inflation measure is the core personal consumption deflator but core CPI data largely make up the core PCE deflator and CPI numbers come out sooner each month. In the long run, the overall CPI and core CPI track each other.
Processing & Manufacturing
New Cocoa processing factory in Kumasi
Image…operation starts next year
Peace fm Online, Ghana
12 August 2008
A new cocoa processing plant, which would give value to the country’s raw cocoa beans, is being established in Kumasi. The construction of the processing plant, situated at Kaase, an Industrial area in the metropolis, is expected to be operational in March next year.
When completed, the processing plant would produce fresh non-alcoholic cocoa liquor used for the manufacture of chocolate and other cocoa products for the consumption of both local and foreign markets. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Cocoa B.V, a leading U.S. cocoa processing company with branches across the world, which is embarking on the project, is also reported to be the biggest buyer of Ghana ’s cocoa produce at the world market. The company, which has over 240 processing plants across the globe with 27,000 employers, also deals in the conversion of corn, oil seeds and wheat into products for food, animal feed, chemical and energy use.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony of a new communal sanitation building to the Kaase community as part of its corporate social responsibility, the General Manager of the Company, Mr. Jack Sinclair, noted that the company adopts strict and high environmental standards particularly to people within communities where it operates, hence its decision to establish the facility to the people of Kaase community. He stated that when the company began the construction of the factory at the beginning of the year, it noticed that the people who lived on the edges of the factory site lacked basic hygienic facilities hence the need to, after talks with elders of the community, cede part of the company’s land for the construction of the new facility which consists of separate toilets and showers.
Mr. Sinclair commended the chiefs and people of the Kaase community for the warm reception accorded the management and staff of the company since the commencement of the construction of the project. He further expressed gratitude to the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Mr. Isaac Osei and the chairman of the NPP branch in Cote D’lvoire, Nana Boakye, whom he said, were very instrumental in the establishment of the company in the country. Mr. Sinclair disclosed that the previous site used by the village as place of convenience would be landscaped and planted with local vegetation including planting of coca trees.
The Deputy General Manager of ADM, Pieter Frieling stressed that the construction of the facility exemplified the company’s support of the economic and social development of the communities in which it operates as vital, and was an integral part of its commitment to make the world a better place. The CEO of COCOBOD, Mr. Isaac Osei, on his part noted that the establishment of the cocoa processing plant would help increase the economic benefit that the country derives from the product. He stated that the production of cocoa in the country had improved significantly from 300,000 tonnes per year in 2000, to 700,000 tonnes as a result of numerous incentives introduced by the government of the NPP to cocoa farmers adding that the produce was expected to reach million tonnes within the next two years.
Mr. Osei noted that with prudent economic measures and major transformations introduced into the cocoa industry by the NPP government, the estimated target of million tonnes by the year 2011 would be achievable. He, therefore, charged the company to consider the local youth who will qualify for jobs during its recruitment exercise. The Chief Executive Officer of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, in a speech read on her behalf commended ADM Company for the laudable project, stressing that the construction of the sanitary facility had come at a time that the assembly was grappling with issue of waste management in the city as a result of meagre budgetary allocation.
New code to protect image of Belgian chocolate
By Laura Crowley
Food&Drink
14-Aug-2008 - The Belgian Royal Association of the Chocolate, Praline, Biscuits and Sugar Confectionery Industry (CHOPRABISCO) has developed a ‘Belgian Chocolate Code’ that provides guidelines for labelling chocolate as coming from Belgium. The code will be introduced on September 1st and is aimed at protecting the reputation of Belgian chocolate manufacturers and their products, which are widely considered to be of high quality. It is also intended to prevent consumers being misled into buying Belgian chocolates that are not completely Belgian.
Above all, it is being introduced to ensure ‘Belgian chocolate’ does not become a generic term.
The code relates to the European directive 2000/13, which says labelling cannot be misleading and refers to origin and quality, for example. “There is no specific law for chocolate labelling, and so we have put up this chocolate code to be more explicit.” Guy Gallet, secretary general for CHOPRABISCO, told . “It is quite common that chocolate products are mislabelled in this way, but we are proactive in preventing it.”
Belgium’s code was inspired by a similar one introduced by a Swiss chocolate association in the 1970s.
The code
‘Belgian Chocolate’ is defined as a mixture of ingredients that are refined and moulded in Belgium. This means the grinding of the beans does not necessarily have to take place in Belgium. However, the code draws on differences between end products and finished product, saying that, for pralines for example, the product should be made entirely in Belgium to be called Belgian chocolate.
If only some of the chocolate was made in Belgium, the code recommends the use of the phrase ‘Made with Belgian chocolate’, so consumers are not led into believing it is 100 per cent Belgian. It is also intended to crack down on companies labelling their products with phrases such as ‘Belgian style’ and ‘Belgian recipe’.
CHOPRABISCO hopes Belgian chocolate manufacturers will work with their customers to check the code is followed throughout Europe, as well as further afield. The code has received support from the economic representatives of the Belgian Embassies and three regional export promotion agencies.
No legal weight
The code is a code of practice and, as such, is not compulsory. Owen Warnock, partner and food law expert at international law firm Eversheds, said the code carries no legal weight. He said: “Codes such as this are not that common in the food industry because of concerns that they are anti-competitive and stifle innovation, but many companies will have signed up to it and have agreed to abide by the code.”
Legal action would only be brought by the relevant people in the different counties. For example, in Germany, it is rival companies who would make such a claim against misleading labelling, while in the UK, it would be the Trading Standards.
Warnock said: “Companies wanting to avoid problems should abide by the code. However, some aspects of the code are debatable.”
These requirements are not described in the directive 2000/13, he added, and could well be debated on.
Hershey Expects FY08 EPS At Lower End Of Outlook Range; Hikes Prices To Tackle Rising Commodity Costs - Update
RTT News, NY - 15 Aug 2008
8/15/2008 6:45 PM ET
Chocolate maker Hershey Co. (HSY) Friday revised its profit outlook for 2008 and announced an increase in wholesale prices across its U.S., Puerto Rico and export chocolate and sugar confectionery lines, citing volatile commodity costs. The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company expects 2008 earnings from operations within the previous outlook of $1.85-$1.90 per share.
Full year 2008 earnings, however, are expected toward the lower end of the range due to the current economic and market conditions. For 2008, the company expects to record charges of about $135 million - $145 million or $0.39 - $0.42 per share related to business realignment and impairment. The company continues to expect net sales growth of 3%-4% for the year.
On average, 12 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expect 2008 earnings of $1.85 per share for 2008. The analysts have a consensus revenue estimate of $5.11 billion for the year.
Hershey expects volume in the fourth quarter and next year to be lower than previously estimated. In 2009, Hershey expects net sales growth of 2%-3%, compared to the previous forecast of 3%-5%. The company continues to expect earnings per share from operations in 2009 to increase, however, at a rate below its long-term objective of 6%-8% growth.
Hershey said a weighted average 11% increase on its instant consumable, multi-pack and packaged candy lines is effective Friday. The changes approximate a 10% increase over Hershey's entire domestic product line. The price increase is expected to partially offset increases in input costs, including raw materials, packaging materials, fuel, utilities, and transportation.
Commodity costs have registered sharp increases in the past few years and are currently above historical averages. Market prices for ingredients such as cocoa, corn sweeteners, sugar and peanuts are up 20%-45% from the beginning of the year.
The company's commodity hedging strategies to firm up its 2009 commodity cost profile are expected to add about $10-12 million or roughly $0.03 per share to the chocolate maker's initial estimate of about a $100 million increase in 2008 raw material costs. This additional increase, as well as the timing and slightly higher trade promotion expense related to the price increase, will be reflected in its third quarter results.
According to David West, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, "We remain committed to the higher levels of brand support, consumer investment, retail coverage and merchandising in both 2008 and 2009 that we previously communicated…We will focus on productivity and other initiatives to offset a portion of the higher input costs and increased consumer investment."
HSY closed Friday's regular trade at $41.62, up 43 cents or 1.04% from the previous close, on 1.48 million shares. For the past year, the stock trended in the range of $32.31 - $47.59.
Business & Economy
Ivory Coast doubles cocoa, coffee export tax
Reuters South Africa, South Africa
11 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has doubled its port registration tax on cocoa and coffee exports to 10 percent of the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) price to help cope with rising fuel prices, a presidency statement said at the weekend.
The government in the top cocoa grower partially reversed a rise in pump prices in July and made other concessions to civil servants, transporters and drivers after a strike by transporters over fuel prices caused widespread disruption.
At the time, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said the cocoa and crude oil industries, leading revenue earners for the government, would be called on to help find the 200 billion CFA needed to fund the measures.
Government ministers also took a 50 percent pay cut.
"In view of the urgency ... the rate of the registration duty on the sale of coffee and cocoa is raised from 5 percent to 10 percent of the CIF reference price for the product," said the presidency statement, which state television broadcast at the weekend.
The port registration tax is one of a range of levies imposed on cocoa and coffee exports in Ivory Coast, many of which are designed to fund the running of industry bodies and promote development rather than into government coffers.
The Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) marketing board calculates the reference CIF price for each product on a regular basis.
Cargill keen on cocoa, specialty fats businesses
RedOrbit, TX
By Ooi Tee Ching
11 August 2008
AMERICAN agribusiness giant Cargill Inc, which owns palm oil refineries in Kuantan and Port Klang, is keen on buying into cocoa and specialty fats businesses in Malaysia. "We've attempted to make a couple of acquisitions in Malaysia in the last few years but they fell apart in the final stage," said Cargill Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd president Paul Conway. "One deal fell apart because it appeared in the media. The vendor was upset and we were upset too," he said.
Back in 2005, Cargill bid for Port Klang-based Intercontinental Specialty Fats Sdn Bhd (ISF) but Japan's Nisshin Oillio Group Ltd beat them to it with a higher offer. Despite failing to acquire ISF then, Cargill has not given up hope on the food ingredient business in Malaysia. "We are always on the lookout for acquisitions, we're interested in cocoa and specialty fats," he said. Conway was speaking to reporters after officiating at the opening of its southeast Asia Application Centre for Food and Beverage in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Cargill's food scientists at the centre develop flavours for beverage, dairy, sugar and chocolate confectionery. They also carry out texturising tests on dairy and non-dairy products, juice beverages, confectionery (gummies, pectin fellies) and processed fruits (jams, baking jams and decorative jams).
While acquisitions in Malaysia were not forthcoming for Cargill, it focused on organic growth. Cargill has allocated an initial investment of RM5 million in a shrimp hatchery in Pekan, Pahang. "This is a first for Cargill to venture into aquaculture. We see niche opportunity in Malaysia while this sector is still at its infancy," he said.
Cargill Feed Sdn Bhd managing director Desmond Tham Yuk Sun, meanwhile, said the company hopes to start selling shrimp fries to farmers by year-end. Cargill has been investing in Malaysia for 30 years and one of its main exports is palm oil. Conway expects increasing palm oil shipments to the US and Russia in the years ahead. "The US and Russia are big growth markets because of the small base. We also see more orders from traditional markets like China and India," Conway said. "Palm oil is playing a role in doing away with trans fats from the American diet. But the challenge (in food formulation) is to get the right balance between saturates and trans fats," he said.
In the nine months ended February 2008, Cargill Inc posted US$2.9 billion (RM9.45 billion) in profits. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the family-owned company employs 158,000 people in 66 countries.
(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Chocolate-makers raise the bar
Baltimore Sun, United States
By Betty Hallock for Los Angeles Times
August 13, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO - Meet the new Willy Wonka: Timothy Childs is a former space-shuttle technologist who's building a 29,000-square-foot chocolate factory on prime waterfront property in the Embarcadero. He stands in the factory's laboratory, inspecting a sample of split-open cocoa beans, pointing out the ones that have been properly fermented and talking intensely about the hedonics of chocolate - as in the hedonistic sensation of eating it, how it melts in the mouth, when it starts to break apart and the way in which flavors and sugars are released. "We're freaks about it," says Childs, chief chocolate officer (his official title) of Tcho. He's not the only sweet tooth/techno-tinkerer with chocolate on the mind. In fact, Childs is one of a generation of new Willy Wonkas, a recent crop of American bean-to-bar chocolate makers who are building their own factories - sometimes their own machinery - and tracking down cocoa beans to transform them into bars of chocolate (also known as couverture), for eating and for making confections.
There's no mistaking these chocolate makers for traditional chocolatiers, who create confections such as bonbons and truffles. Instead of enthusing about ganache, they're wont to talk about cacao genetics or the advantages of a roller mill versus a ball mill during chocolate refining. These entrepreneurs tend to be excited about a just-found piece of vintage machinery or the next shipment of beans from Bolivia. They're continuously experimenting with roasting times, for example, or with stone-grinding techniques. The result is an envelope-pushing variety of chocolate, some of which is on par with the chocolate from European producers that connoisseurs have long considered the standard. "We haven't even seen how great chocolate can be yet," says Colin Gasko, owner of Rogue Chocolatier, who launched his Minneapolis company in November.
Bean-to-bar is industry parlance for the complicated process by which cacao is turned into chocolate. The bean-to-bar process involves roasting the beans; breaking them into small pieces called nibs and removing the shells (referred to as winnowing); grinding the nibs, usually with sugar, to form a chocolate paste; then refining and conching (very forceful kneading) to produce the desired smoothness and to develop flavors.
Depending on the chocolate maker's stylistic approach, the following ingredients might be added: vanilla, additional cocoa butter and/or soy lecithin. After it's tempered (heated then cooled to a certain temperature, so that it has sheen and snap), the chocolate is poured into molds.
Until recently, the process was the domain of mass producers, even in the 12 years since groundbreaking Scharffen Berger started making chocolate in Berkeley, Calif. In the last couple of years, inventive chocolate makers have popped up across the U.S. In Brooklyn, a couple of cocoa-loving brothers are building a "chocolaterie and laboratory" in the south Williamsburg neighborhood. Childs teamed with Wired magazine co-founder Louis Rossetto to form Tcho, refurbishing equipment shipped from an old chocolate factory in Wernigerode, Germany.
Tcho, which is set to open in the first quarter of next year, is among the biggest of the new wave of chocolate makers, with 18 employees and with the capacity to make 3 tons at a time. "That's still less than what the big guys spill during a shift change," Childs says.
Artisanal "micro-batch" producers are coming out with 50 to 1,000 pounds at a time, with just one or two people making the chocolate, such as Art Pollard of Amano Artisan Chocolate in Orem, Utah; Steve DeVries of DeVries Chocolate in Denver; Alan McClure of Columbia, Mo.-based Patric Chocolate; and Gasko's Rogue Chocolatier.
Now "there's more interest in chocolate and there's high enough prices for chocolate to make it feasible to have a small company," says DeVries, a former glass manufacturer who pursued chocolate making after a trip to Costa Rica several years ago and his first encounter with a cocoa pod. "Three years from now, we'll probably see double the number of chocolate makers [in the U.S.]," Childs says. "It sounds banal, but it reflects back to the Internet and technology. Before it was so hard just to have communication with growing areas. Now practices get communicated, contacts established, samples and feedback are sent. Sourcing the cocoa is the hardest thing to do, making it is second-hardest."
Childs says that there's enough information on chocolate-making Web sites to "let people make it on their own and find people who can help them. We couldn't do this 10 years ago; we couldn't do this five years ago." Meanwhile, by the time Hershey Co. bought Scharffen Berger in 2005 and then Portland, Ore.-based Dagoba the following year, the gap left by industry consolidation was ready to be filled. In 2006, Joseph Whinney founded Seattle-based Theo, the first roaster of organic and fair-trade cocoa beans in the U.S., according to its Web site.
Many bean-to-bar producers say they're motivated by the possibilities for tremendous change in chocolate making - in the possible increase in quality to be gained if producers control the way that the bean is handled at the source as well as by paying obsessive attention to how their machinery affects the development of flavors. "I was curious," DeVries says. "How could it be that I could grind this stuff in my kitchen and have more complex chocolate than any I'd ever had before? "We have so much upside now. If the French bought all their grapes in shiploads from Africa, how good would the wine be? That's about where we are with chocolate."
DJ Barry Callebaut Cameroon buys 21,000 tons cocoa beans for 08
Trading Markets (press release), CA
By Emmanuel Tumanjong Dow Jones Newswires; tnuel@
August 13, 2008
YAOUNDE, Cameroon, -- The Cameroon subsidiary of Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB) bought 21,000 metric tons of cocoa beans for processing in the 2007-08 season (August-July), down from 21,865 in the previous season, according to figures released Wednesday from its Cameroon office in the port city of Douala.
This subsidiary, locally known as the Societe Industrielle Camerounaise des Cacaos SA, has the capacity to process 30,000 tons of cocoa beans a year. The Swiss firm owns 70% of the shares and the rest are controlled by the Cameroon government and local private individuals.
Namau gets cocoa grinder
Fiji Times, Fiji
August 14, 2008
The people of Namau in the province of Tailevu have reason to be smile after receiving their new cocoa grinding machine with a generator yesterday. The Acting Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Dr Richard Beyer handed over a new cocoa grinding machine and to sign a memorandum of understanding with the people of Namau on behalf of the interim Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama. Dr Beyer, speaking at the presentation, said that this initiative was that of the Office of the Prime Minister.
The interim Government and the Ministry of Agriculture were willing to help villagers provided they are willing to take the initiative to start something on their own by making use of their god given resources. Dr Beyer encouraged the people that with the help and assistance they would receive through the interim Government, they could move towards a business venture that would create jobs and in turn contribute to the economy of the country and improve the livelihoods of the people of Namau. "We would like to help you move from a non profit organization into an organization where you can accumulate assets and make jobs in our rural area for our young people," Dr Richard said.
Cadbury and the chocolate factory
Business Standard, India
Insiya Amir / New Delhi
August 15, 2008
The child in me always chooses a Cadbury’s chocolate over a Nestle or an Amul. I even prefer a Cadbury’s bar over other widely-available international brands of chocolate like Nestle, Hershey’s and Van Houten. So you should understand my complete sense of disillusionment when I found out that when the business had almost gone kaput, Cadbury was saved by a machine bought from a Dutchman called Van Houten!
It is reference points like this that make this book written with the permission of Sir John Sunderland, chairman, Cadbury Schweppes, a delicious read. In his foreword, Sunderland ends with saying “I hope that Cadbury’s purple reign will be of interest to you as you face the challenges in your business today”. But apart from the fact that the book is a case study in how to start a small business in a difficult market and go on to make it one of the best-known names in the world, it is full of nuggets of history that will make the story endearing even to those who read the book only because it is about the most memorable name of their childhood.
Given that the story of Cadbury has all the elements of an interesting read — drama, daring, tragedy, rivalry, failure and ultimately, success — it is no surprise that it begins with the quintessential story of a career shift that John Cadbury, a retailer of tea and coffee, made in 1831, switching to manufacturing cocoa products. Not only was he a bold businessman, John was also something of a showman. He invested in Birmingham’s first plate glass window and employed (some things never change) a Chinaman to serve behind the counter.
But John Cadbury would need “much more than an oriental greeter” to make his business succeed in an already-crowded market. His major stroke of luck came when the government slashed import duties on cocoa and he was awarded Queen Victoria’s royal warrant ahead of any other manufacturer, even Fry, the most well-established brand then. But after a bout of rheumatism and his wife’s death, John left his loss-making business to his sons Richard and George Cadbury.
When the brothers took over the business, they were the smallest amongst the 30 manufacturers that they were aware of. After a few disastrous years, the state of the business was so bad that George Cadbury had to stop the morning paper and even went without tea and coffee, despite being a manufacturer for the same. This was the time when “the long-term Cadbury habit of being proud and quick to borrow ideas” resuscitated the business. Instead of following the example of the market leader, Fry, George Cadbury bought a machine from Van Houten in Holland, with “only sign language and a dictionary with which to negotiate”.
To establish the brand as the best manufacturer of cocoa — at the time when cocoa was sold to be drunk with water or milk, even brick dust and red lead were added to reduce the fat content of cocoa beans — Cadbury even got approval from medical journal Lancet to vouch for their purity. After that, it was only an uphill climb. Listening to demand and taking cues from market changes, Cadbury began extending its product line. From cocoa essence to milk chocolate, Cadbury soon began its journey to make chocolate a mass-market brand, “The Ford of chocolate”.
From adjusting to the changing UK market before and after the two World Wars to expanding overseas and “painting the British Empire purple”, Cadbury was well on its way to becoming a household name in a pre-globalised world, and a brand leader in a globalised one. With images of old products and advertisements that induce a sense of nostalgia and belonging, this book tells its story well. Cadbury Schweppes is the world’s leading confectionary company, thanks to its three main strengths of chocolate, sugar confectionary and chewing gum but it is with chocolate that we all associate Cadbury. Cadbury may not have conquered the entire world as the definitive brand of chocolate but “then neither has anyone else”.
Hershey to raise prices 11 percent
International Herald Tribune, France
August 15, 2008
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania: Hershey Co. said Friday it plans to raises prices on its products by an average of 11 percent as it tries to stem the impact of soaring commodities costs. The candy company — known for its chocolate bars and bite-sized Kisses — said the immediate price hike was necessary to offset "significant increases" in the cost of raw materials such as sugar, cocoa and peanuts. It said raw materials costs are up as much as 45 percent since the start of the year; fuel, utilities and transportation costs also have risen. "Commodity costs have been volatile over the last several years and continue to remain at levels that are well above historical averages," Hershey's President and Chief Executive David J. West said in a statement.
The chocolatier, based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, said its commodities costs will grow by more than $110 million this year — a figure that could double in 2009. Meanwhile, Hershey also narrowed its 2008 earnings and revenue guidance because of the price hikes.
Sales of sweets up despite sour economy
Online Athens, GA - 16 Aug 2008
David Manning / By Josh White
Slow economic growth, rising inflation and record-high fuel cost haven't been enough to decay America's sweet tooth. National candy sales - though perhaps not the products themselves - are staying healthy in the midst of widely-felt economic woes, despite the fact that candy also has increased in price along with almost all other goods.
On average, the price for all sugars and sweets rose by 5 percent between June 2007 and June 2008 for U.S. urban consumers, while candy and chewing gum prices rose by 6 percent in the same period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But candy companies are encouraged, based on sales numbers collected by the National Confectioners Association, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that represents the entire confectionary (candy) industry in America and deals with all things sugary - it even uses the 1969 hit "Sugar Sugar" as its on-hold phone music. Their data confirm that candy as a national obsession has stayed strong through the all-but-declared recession.
Retail sales between May 18 and June 15 rose by 3.9 percent from the same period in 2007, according to the association's figures. Other data collected by the association shows the industry sold $29 billion worth of retail products of 2007, which equaled a 3 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Associated Press.
And that's not unusual. The candy industry generally sees sales rise by 1 percent to 3 percent each year, representing "a slow but steady growth," which economic downturns do not strongly hamper, said Susan Fussell, vice president of communications for the National Confectioners Association. "We don't very often see huge spikes or huge declines in candy sales," Fussell said.
One explanation for the trend is candy, while considered a luxury item, has existed throughout its history as a relatively cheap luxury, Fussell said. "So, it's not necessarily something that people cut out of their budget, because it's so affordable," Fussell said. "And I think that's one of the big reasons (for the stability of sales)." That stability and Americans' love of chocolate has continued, despite the economic conditions that begs the question of whether the country is in a recession.
"Practically, we are (in a recession); from a practical point of view," said Doug Bachtel, a professor of Housing and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia. "Because of prices, a lot of people are hurting." When a recession - at least three consecutive months of declines in several major economic indicators - occurs, people generally cut back on recreational activities and unnecessary purchases, instead spending their earnings on basic commodities like food and clothing. One would think consumers would kick their candy habits. "See, but that's where the (relatively low) price comes in," Bachtel said about candy, which he considers as typically an add-on, spur-of-the-moment buy.
Individual candy bars haven't risen in price as much as some other goods on the market. Consumers also typically don't cut down on purchases of sweets because candy has, over many decades, become part of the American culture, Fussell said. Who could imagine a road trip without a quick snack stop? What's Halloween without trick-or-treating? What does the Easter Bunny stuff into straw baskets?
Actually, Mike Griffith, vice president of Golden Pantry - the Athens-area convenience store chain - considers American holidays especially important factors in candy sales, more so than economic downturns. "Candy's one of these categories that just depends on the time of year, I guess," Griffith said. "Candy's very seasonal." Seasonal sales even might equal as much as a third of all annual candy sales, the Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing estimates.
Even in the current economic doldrums, candy sales recently have declined no more or less than other product sales at Golden Pantry stores, Griffith said. "As gas prices have risen, people have sacrificed other purchases because of it," said Griffith. "We have seen that across the board."
As far as candy buyers' habits, it seems many people buy sweets basically as an afterthought when shopping, at least in Griffith's experience. "Once you get past the Snickers and the ones everybody buys, it's certainly an impulse item," Griffith said. Some other Athens merchants agreed with Griffith's assessment that candy sales haven't greatly changed since the start of 2008, and that people largely buy it on impulse. Still, candy sales are good at the Walgreens on East Broad Street and Hawthorne Avenue in Athens, even if candy seems an add-on item for many customers. "Most people don't usually come in here looking for a candy bar," said Travis Mackellar, the store manager. "I'd say if anything, though, we're up."
Snickers, the most popular candy bar in the U.S. according to the National Confectioners Association, has even stayed on top at Walgreens, Mackellar said. Ziyad Saleh, an employee at the Lay-Z-Shopper, a small convenience store and deli on East Clayton Street in downtown Athens, said he hasn't seen any difference in candy sales since the store opened last year. Although a fair share of customers walk in just for candy, more often they buy the sweets as additional items, Saleh said.
Ben Provost, an employee at Jot 'Em Down Store and BBQ - an independent Athens convenience store and barbecue restaurant - tells a similar story. Provost hasn't seen much difference in sales from previous years, though he roughly estimated that only one in 10, maybe even one in 15, customers visit the store just for candy. But not all Athens businesses are enjoying stable sales of sweet inventory in the shaky financial environment, as seen with Rosy's Bakery, a small cake business on Prince Avenue. "Well, I know that it's really slow," said the coincidentally named employee Candy Torres. "It's slower than last year."
Torres said the drop in sales could be attributed to the poor economy, and to the immigration problems some of the mostly Hispanic clientele of the shop have experienced lately. Torres herself has never been a big sweets fan, so she hasn't had to change her buying habits much, she said. And now, she's buying less sweets than before, concentrating instead on more necessary items. Like Torres, Kroger shopper Elaine Pulliam recently has cut her candy purchases to save money. "I also went on a diet, though, so I don't know if that counts," said Pulliam, who tries more healthy snacks these days, though she once was a moderate candy consumer. "But now, it's like, 'No - I'm gonna get some fruit,' " Pulliam said.
Luckily for confectioners, who nationwide are facing rising production costs, Torres' and Pulliam's habits don't necessarily fit the norm. "There's a lot of sugar in candy, and that has gone up," said Bachtel. The higher prices of corn, grain and milk, all used in making candy have risen steadily in the past year, Fussell said. And the cost of power and transportation has followed suit. "It's more expensive to keep the lights and the machines on in your plant because of the rising energy costs," Fussell said.
Even with all the economic pressure, though, the sweet allure of a chocolate bar and its still affordable price tag has kept Americans stuck on buying candy.
Based on "mounds" (pun intended) of demographic factors related to Americans' love affair with candy, Bachtel drew this conclusion. "Depression, hot war, cold war, peace time, hippies, yuppies, soccer moms, terror attacks, recession or whatever the trend, two things have remained constant - Americans' sweet tooth and the ability of the candy companies to make it available and affordable," Bachtel said.
CANDY FACTS
• 7 billion pounds of chocolate and candy are manufactured each year in the United States.
• A recent survey revealed that 52 percent of U.S. adults said chocolate is their favorite flavor. The second favorite flavor was a tie (at 12 percent) between berry flavors and vanilla.
• Chocolate manufacturers use 40 percent of the world's almonds and 20 percent of the world's peanuts.
• Seventy-one percent of American chocolate eaters prefer milk chocolate.
• The Midwest and the Northeast consume more candy per region than the South, Southwest, West or Mid-Atlantic states.
• The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human body temperature - which is why it literally melts in your mouth.
• Older children are significantly more likely to prefer chocolate than younger children (59 percent of 9-11 year-olds prefer chocolate versus 46 percent of 6-8 year-olds), according to a recent survey.
• Denmark has the highest per capita consumption of candy in the world at 29.5 pounds.
• Americans over 18 years old consume 65 percent of the candy that's produced each year.
• Younger children are more likely than older children to prefer hard candies.
• About 65 percent of American candy brands have been around for more than 50 years.
Source: National Confectioners Association/ Chocolate Manufacturers Association
Swiss export more chocolate to China
2008-08-16 05:31:07
GENEVA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Exports of Swiss chocolate products to China have increased dramatically in the past seven years, the official Swissinfo news website reported Friday. Exports to China rose from just two tons in 2001 to 308 tons last year, according to figures from Chocosuisse, the association of Swiss chocolate manufactures.
This represents an increase in value to 2.1 million Swiss francs (about 1.9 million U.S. dollars) from only 57,000 Swiss francs (about 51800 U.S. dollars) seven years ago. Chocosuisse said China imports primarily premium chocolate from Switzerland. Only a small segment of consumers can afford the products.
Hershey boosts prices as commodities cost more
By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch
Aug. 15, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hershey Co. late Friday raised prices for its lines of chocolates and warned its 2008 profit will come in at the low end of its target.
Hershey said it boosted wholesale prices by 10% on its U.S. product line overall, while prices were lifted 11% for single Hershey chocolate bars, bags of Hershey Kisses and multi-bar packs. The maker of the Hershey's chocolate bars and Reese's Cups said the price hike will help cover the surging costs of cocoa, corn sweeteners, sugar and peanuts. Those commodities have jumped 20% to 45% in price since January, the company said in a statement.
In February, Hershey (HSY: [pic], , ) raised prices by 13% on a number of its chocolate bars after keeping prices steady through 2007 to maintain commitments made to its customers.
The company, facing tough competition from Mars Inc., is in the midst of reviving its iconic chocolate franchise. It's boosted its field staff, ramped up promotional expenses on key brands Hershey's and Reese's, and launched Hershey Bliss and Starbucks chocolates.
Looking forward, Hershey said its 2008 profit, excluding ongoing charges, will be closer to the low end of its $1.85 to $1.90 a share forecast. For 2009, Hershey said sales will grow at a slower pace of 2% to 3%, versus its prior projection of 3% to 5%.
Hershey shares fell 4% to $39.95 in late trading. The stock is up more than 5% this year.
New Cargill center to focus on Asia markets
By Sarah Hills
Food&Drink
08-Aug-2008 - Cargill says it will create innovative new dairy and confectionery products and help bring them to a growing market in Asia with the opening of its new application centre.
The South East Asia Food Application Centre is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was opened to expand Cargill’s capabilities to partner with food and beverage manufacturers in the region and bring its product formulation expertise for palm oil refining, texturizing and flavoring businesses under one roof.
At the center Cargill will develop flavors for beverage, dairy, sugar and chocolate confectionery. To help with development there will also be a “flavor library” of nearly 800 flavors for customers to choose from.
Formulation testing of fats for baking and chocolate making will take place at the center as well as fats formulation tests for frying for chicken and French fries. It will also carry texturizing tests related to dairy and non-dairy products, juice beverages, confectionery (gummies, pectin fellies) and processed fruits (jams, baking jams and decorative jams).
Lawrence Low, general manager of Cargill Texturizing Solutions, said: “We have brought together our global expertise in many fields, including texturizers, sweeteners, flavors and fats, to be housed in the same facility so that we can build synergies for our customers in the region.”
Flavors
The global market for flavors is worth an estimated $7bn, and in South Asia it is worth $1.2bn, but that is expected to grow by another $0.5bn in the coming five years, according to Cargill.
Cargill director of corporate affairs in Malaysia, Venu Ramalingam, told FoodNavigator- that this growth will come as more and more people are able to afford better food and quality of food. Also each area in the region has a slightly different taste profile, with some preferring more sweet than spicy, for example, or the other way around.
Ramalingam added: “Having the application centre in this part of the world makes it easier to work with the taste preferences in the South Asian market.”
“We will be able to formulate the product to meet the needs of the local market.”
Dairy and Confectionery
According to Euromonitor International the chocolate confectionary market in Malaysia has increased from US$83m in 2002 to $100m in 2007 with growth forecast to increase 17 percent between 2007 and 2012. In Indonesia the market was worth $186m in 2002 but shot up to $541m in 2007. Growth there over the same five year period is put at 67 percent. The figures for dairy forecast a 60 percent growth in Indonesia between 2007 and 2012 with a 10 percent growth in Malaysia.
Palm oil is used in a diverse range of food formulations including bread and crisps and as a substitute to dairy fat. It is also considered an alternative to trans fats which are out of favor in the food industry and are being removed from many formulations amid health concerns. Trans fats have been linked to health risks as diverse as cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer.
Tapping market potential
Cargill is a privately owned company and doesn’t release financial results. However it is not the only ingredients firm to target the Asian markets. Earlier this year Kerry Ingredients said in Asia-Pacific, the company has seen great growth potential with sales revenue increased by 17.1 per cent to €425m. China also saw strong growth through customized solutions for the ice-cream industry and snack offerings, while beverage applications grew strongly in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and China.
And last year, the European Commission approved Kraft's acquisition of France-based Danone biscuits, which will gain Kraft access to critical emerging markets such as Malaysia, China and Indonesia, as well as Russia and Poland, which together will account for 25 per cent of business.
Meanwhile Symrise has been investing in emerging economies. Last August it announced a dramatic expansion of its regional Sensory and Consumer Science Center in Singapore. It is aimed at understanding how best to cater to consumers who are rapidly adapting to Western eating habits but who also adhere to local twists in taste and other preferences.
Barry Callebaut pursues growth in India with new academy
By Laura Crowley
Food&Drink
Study finds no extra nutrients in dried organic food
11-Aug-2008 - Swiss firm Barry Callebaut is continuing its strategy for growth in emerging markets with the opening of its first chocolate academy in India. The academies provide training to artisans and culinary professionals in different countries, while also building the company’s contacts worldwide and reaffirming its presence across the entire industry it serves - from food manufacturers to global retailers.
A key strategy for Barry Callebaut is stepping up sales and operations in emerging countries, and the opening of the new academy is line with this as it is aimed at significantly increasing the company’s presence in India, where the chocolate market is experiencing substantial growth.
Euromonitor predicts the relatively small Indian chocolate market (with current annual volumes of about 55,000 metric tonnes of chocolate and compound) to grow by around 17.8 per cent per year between 2008 and 2012. “The opening of this Chocolate Academy is a tribute to the importance Barry Callebaut places on the Indian market and the tremendous talent we have witnessed in the country’s culinary industry that can be further nurtured,” said Paul Halliwell, director of Barry Callebaut’s gourmet business in Asia. “Our research indicates a tremendous potential for educating new entrants who want to learn how to work with top-quality gourmet chocolate.”
Growth in India
Countries such as India and China have become increasingly important to international food companies as a growing economy means consumers there are more able to purchase expensive commodities. Josiane Kremer, spokesperson for Barry Callebaut, told : “There is a definite correlation between economic growth in India and interest in chocolate.”
She also attributed the growing demand for chocolate to increased tourism, which has resulted in a large number of top class restaurants opening up in Mumbai. “Tourism plays a large role in the chocolate demand,” she said. “We offer expertise in Belgium, Swiss and French chocolate, and these premium chocolates have great appeal to five-star restaurants.”
While sales in Asia Pacific and Africa only accounted for 7.4 per cent of its 2006/07 overall revenues, which totalled CHF 4.1bn (€2.5bn), the company’s growth strategy in the area is in full swing. It set up of a sales office in India in July 2007 to seize on growth opportunities in the country, and the company claimed it has “already gained a market share there”.
Chocolate academies
The training centre will showcase Barry Callebaut’s expert knowledge and will encourage the exchange of technical expertise in chocolate between professionals. The company’s chefs will run varied courses covering areas such as the origins of chocolate and techniques like moulding, enrobing and sculpting.
Gael Etrillard, chef and technical advisor for the academies in South East Asia, said: “For more than 20 years, Barry Callebaut experts have offered tailor-made courses to specialists. By means of demonstration, theory classes and workshops, we’re passing on our expertise and passion for chocolate.”
Halliwell added: “The chocolate academy also provides the perfect platform for culinary professionals to share their knowledge and interact with our master chefs, gaining unmatched insights into global trends.”
Barry Callebaut will open new academies in Chicago and Chekhov, Russia, before the end of the year, bringing its total number of academies to 12 worldwide.
Chocolate and snacks shrink but the price stays the same
By David Thomas
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 12 Aug 2008
Some of the UK's most popular foods and drinks are being reduced in size without any reduction in cost as companies try to maximise profits during the economic slowdown.
Manufacturers have defended the cuts, saying they want avoid passing on cost increases to consumers. Pringles tubes now come in 170g instead of 200g. Pringles crisps, Nestle Rolos, Cadbury's chocolate bars and Strongbow cider are among items to have shrunk as firms try to offset rising costs without increasing prices. It has sparked concern among consumer groups that under-pressure families are paying "more for less" at a time when their budgets are being stretched.
Jeff Alder, policy expert at the National Consumer Council, said companies' reputations could suffer if they took the product cuts to extremes. He said: "A considerable number of brands (are) downsizing in this way, presumably because the industry faces increased costs, but doesn't want to be seen to raise prices. Even in a credit crunch, most customers are savvy enough to see these tactics as underhand. "Companies should realise that, once caught out, their corporate reputation could suffer and customers always have the power to switch brands. A brand needs to be trusted by shoppers to survive, so any company considering short changing their customers should think again."
Strongbow brewer Scottish and Newcastle admitted it cut the number of cans in a case from 18 to 15 because of costs. Other cuts include Pringles, which now come in 170g tubes instead of 200g, Cadbury's "family share" sized chocolate bars dropping from 250g to 230g and Waitrose minced beef packs being reduced in size from 550g packs to 500g.
Kraft has kept eight segments in its Dairy Lea Triangles packs, but have made them smaller. And the decision on who to give your last Rolo to has been made that little bit harder after maker Nestle cut the number in a tube from 11 to 10.
The findings come as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the cost of everyday items, rose to 4.4 per cent in July from 3.8 per cent the previous month. Manufacturers have defended the cuts, saying they want avoid passing on cost increases to consumers.
A Cadbury’s spokesman said: “We seek to keep our confectionery affordable in order to offer our consumers value for money, and therefore we have slightly reduced the size on some of the larger sharing packs rather than directly raising prices.”
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: “We have reduced our mince pack size slightly, however we have absorbed a significant amount of the farm gate price increase
Mark Gerken, managing director of off-trade at Scottish & Newcastle UK, said: "The decision was brought about by our need to raise wholesale prices – in face of the widespread and unprecedented rise in business costs – and retailers' desire to continue to offer Strongbow in a similar party-pack format at the same price point. Had retailers not chosen to go down this route, they would have had to pass on a hefty price increase to purchasers of the old 18-can pack, and they clearly feel no price increase on a smaller pack offers better consumer
Ivory Coast doubles cocoa, coffee export tax
Mon 11 Aug 2008, 9:15 GMT
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has doubled its port registration tax on cocoa and coffee exports to 10 percent of the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) price to help cope with rising fuel prices, a presidency statement said at the weekend. The government in the top cocoa grower partially reversed a rise in pump prices in July and made other concessions to civil servants, transporters and drivers after a strike by transporters over fuel prices caused widespread disruption.
At the time, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said the cocoa and crude oil industries, leading revenue earners for the government, would be called on to help find the 200 billion CFA needed to fund the measures. Government ministers also took a 50 percent pay cut. "In view of the urgency ... the rate of the registration duty on the sale of coffee and cocoa is raised from 5 percent to 10 percent of the CIF reference price for the product," said the presidency statement, which state television broadcast at the weekend.
The port registration tax is one of a range of levies imposed on cocoa and coffee exports in Ivory Coast, many of which are designed to fund the running of industry bodies and promote development rather than into government coffers.
The Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) marketing board calculates the reference CIF price for each product on a regular basis.
Price hike hammers Hershey
- 15 Aug 2008
High commodity costs continue are melting Hershey’s (HSY) profits. The chocolate maker raised prices by 11% Friday, citing soaring prices for ingredients such as cocoa, corn sweeteners, sugar and peanuts. The company also warned Friday afternoon that 2008 earnings will be at the low end of its projected range, due to the sharp rise in the costs of candy ingredients and expenses tied to commodity-hedging strategies and slowing sales linked to higher prices.
“Consumers are likely to see higher every day and promotional retail prices as we implement the price increase,” said CEO David West, who took over as chief executive last year as Hershey struggled with slowing growth and rising costs. “As a result, we expect volume in the fourth quarter and next year to be lower than previously estimated.”
Hershey said sales growth will slow in 2009 to a year-over-year rate of 2%-3%, from the previously projected 3%-5%, while earnings growth for the year will fall short of its 6%-8% long-term target. Shares fell 6% in post-close trading.
AAK builds profits on cocoa butter equivalents
By Jess Halliday
12-Aug-2008 - The high price of cocoa butter has led to greater demand for AAK’s cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) from specialty vegetable oils, and in turn has yielded strong growth in its confectionery fat business area.
The price of cocoa butter has risen significantly in the last 18 months, from under SEK 30000 (€3193.8 at today’s exchange rates) per tonne in early 2007 to over SEK 50000 (€5325.4) per tonne at this year’s high. Cocoa crops have this year yielded disappointing crops, which has pushed up the price of cocoa globally.
For AAK, this means greater demand for its CBEs, which can be used by confectionery manufacturers instead of cocoa butter. And limited supply of CBEs to meet global demand has meant that they can be sold at a higher price.
For the second quarter 2008, the firm reported net sales of SEK 1122m (€119.5m) for its chocolate and confectionery fats business area, up 44 per cent on the same period of last year. Operating profit was up 50 per cent to SEK 105m (€11.2m), although this figure was skewed by the inclusion of insurance compensation of SEK 73m, to cover losses resulting from the fire at its factory in Aarhus, Denmark, in December 2007.
Chocolate and confectionery fats is the most profitable of AAK’s three business areas – and the result is all the more impressive since, in seasonal terms, the Q2 tends to be the weakest.
Despite the boon that the cocoa price issues have brought the firm, it recognises that it is not immune to supply issues. Shea is the most important component of its CBE offerings.
AAK has recently been able to secure better supplies of shea as it increased its presence in West Africa, which has “strengthened the logistics chain from tree to factory”.
The firm said: “CBE growth will be a considerable driving force in the group’s profit growth over the next few years.”
It has recently invested in a new factory in Aarhus centered on this area. In fact, this factory was ready to start production in Q1 2008. This was timely since the fire in December 2007 occurred in the part of the old factory vegetable oils are produced for use as specialty fats, mainly in CBEs.
Immediately following the incident, in which one employee lost his life, AAK said that it expected deliveries to be affected for about two months. However the company also has CBE production facilities in Sweden, so it was able to step up production there as something of a stop-gap.
It is expected that the old factory will re-start production during the second half of 2008, once the authorities have given their approval to the restoration of damaged buildings and infrastructure.
Food ingredients
In the food ingredients area – one that the company recognises as very competitive – it reported net sales of SEK 2471m (€263.1m), up 36 per cent. Operating profit was up only slightly, from SEK72m (€7.6m) to SEK74m (€7.9m).
The biggest challenge has been higher raw material costs as a result of more vegetable oils being used by the energy sector – this driving up costs. “Strongly increased prices for energy and consumables have led to increased costs, where we have not achieved full compensation during the second quarter,” said the company.
Since the end of the quarter however (June 30), the price of vegetable oils has started to go down. “If this continues it will imply reduced working capital and improved cashflow over time”.
AAK has been implementing a programme of specialisation, focusing in particular on healthy products.
As part of this, the firm acquired Croda’s Food Service business in Mexico, and has also entered into an agreement with Israeli ingredients firm Enzymotec for mothers’ milk replacers. “The specialisation strategy develops organically and selective acquisition will complement this strategy,” hinted AAK.
Labour Issues
Cocoa Companies fail to let consumers know which chocolate is produced without Child Labor
(press release)
By Brian Campbell of International Labor Rights Forum
08-11-2008
Everybody loves chocolate, right? But do you know what went into making it? Not the products; the labor. For over 100 years, the cocoa in the chocolate we love to eat has been produced under some of the worst labor conditions in the world.
Forty percent of the World’s cocoa is produced in the Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa. The US Department of State has estimated more than one hundred thousand children work under “the worst forms of child labor,” in that country. Some 10,000 or more are victims of human trafficking or enslavement.
In 2001, the large cocoa companies – like Mars, Hershey, Cargill, and Archer Daniels Midland –bowed to increasing pressure from consumers and politicians to clean up their supply chain. They agreed to establish an industry-wide certification program by 2005 that would tell consumers which chocolate was produced without forced or child labor. It was a groundbreaking idea. A market-based approach to ending child labor would empower consumers to be a part of the solution.
The reasoning was sound. Time and again, economists have found that if consumers are given information about producers who don’t use child labor, those producers will be rewarded with higher sales and profits. And children who would have been enslaved will instead have a chance to have a childhood, to go to school, and to have a better life.
Incredibly, the companies failed to meet both the 2005 deadline and a second extended deadline this past July. Instead, they passed the buck for ending child labor to the government of Cote D’Ivoire.
The companies then pushed farmers to grow more cocoa. They’ve told the farmers that higher production would lift them out of poverty. But expanding cocoa production will likely just make farmers poorer-- by reducing the price companies pay for cocoa on the world market. More work for less pay won’t end poverty. Labor standards, encouraged by thoughtful buyers, will.
Congress has called on industries that use child labor, like cocoa, to use a market-based approach to ending child labor. In this year’s Farm Bill, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work with industry, labor experts, and agriculture experts. It wants them to design a voluntary program that will tell consumers which products are child labor-free. While no one certification program can truly guarantee a 100% child labor-free product, third party certification programs, such as Fair Trade certification can help cocoa farmers around the world boost their incomes, reinvest in their communities, and end the worst forms of child labor.
But we don’t have to wait. We can show the chocolate companies now that the market can work for poor cocoa farmers in Africa. By purchasing Fair Trade-certified chocolate bars, we can be part of the solution to help end child labor in Cote D’Ivoire. For more information on ethical cocoa companies and other steps to end child labor in cocoa farming, check out our Chocolate Company Scorecard at .
About Brian Campbell
Brian Campbell serves as staff attorney for the international labor rights forum, working to promote enforcement of existing laws to protect worker rights, and the development of new legal instruments. This commentary is part of a CSRwire partnership with Corporate Watchdog Radio.
Environmental Issues
Advocating an Unusual Role for Trees
Diana Beresford Kroger
New York Times, United States - 11 Aug 2008
By JIM ROBBINS
Published: August 11, 2008
MERRICKVILLE, Ontario — Diana Beresford-Kroeger pointed to a towering wafer ash tree near her home. The butternut seed, endangered in North America. The fatty acids of the flower and developing testa can be used for abdominal surgery as a temporary adhesive.
The early Siberian sour cherry can be grown in extreme circumstances. The tree is a chemical factory, she explained, and its products are part of a sophisticated survival strategy. The flowers contain terpene oils, which repel mammals that might feed on them. But the ash needs to attract pollinators, and so it has a powerful lactone fragrance that appeals to large butterflies and honeybees. The chemicals in the wafer ash, in turn, she said, provide chemical protection for the butterflies from birds, making them taste bitter.
Many similar unseen chemical relationships are going on in the world around us. “These are at the heart of connectivity in nature,” she said.
Ms. Beresford-Kroeger, 63, is a native of Ireland who has bachelor’s degrees in medical biochemistry and botany, and has worked as a Ph.D.-level researcher at the University of Ottawa school of medicine, where she published several papers on the chemistry of artificial blood. She calls herself a renegade scientist, however, because she tries to bring together aboriginal healing, Western medicine and botany to advocate an unusual role for trees.
She favors what she terms a bioplan, reforesting cities and rural areas with trees according to the medicinal, environmental, nutritional, pesticidal and herbicidal properties she claims for them, which she calls ecofunctions.
Wafer ash, for example, could be used in organic farming, she said, planted in hedgerows to attract butterflies away from crops. Black walnut and honey locusts could be planted along roads to absorb pollutants, she said.
“Her ideas are a rare, if not entirely new approach to natural history,” said Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist who wrote the foreword for her 2003 book, “Arboretum America” (University of Michigan Press). “The science of selecting trees for different uses around the world has not been well studied.”
Miriam Rothschild, the British naturalist who died in 2005, wrote glowingly of Ms. Beresford-Kroeger’s idea of bioplanning and called it “one answer to ‘Silent Spring’ ” because it uses natural chemicals rather than synthetic ones.
But some of Ms. Beresford-Kroeger’s claims for the health effects of trees reach far outside the mainstream. Although some compounds found in trees do have medicinal properties and are the subject of research and treatment, she jumps beyond the evidence to say they also affect human health in their natural forms. The black walnut, for example, contains limonene, which is found in citrus fruit and elsewhere and has been shown to have anticancer effects in some studies of laboratory animals. Ms. Beresford-Kroeger has suggested, without evidence, that limonene inhaled in aerosol form by humans will help prevent cancer.
David Lemkay, the general manager of the Canadian Forestry Association, a nonprofit group that promotes the sustainable use of Canada’s forests, is familiar with her work. “She holds fast to the notion that if you are in the aura of a black walnut tree there’s a healing effect,” Mr. Lemkay said. “It needs more science to be able to say that.”
Memory Elvin-Lewis, a professor of botany at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author, with her husband, Walter H. Lewis, of “Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Human Health” (2003, John Wiley & Sons), said such a role for trees could be true. In India, she said, compounds from neem trees are said to have anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties and are planted around hospitals and sanitariums. “It’s not implausible,” Dr. Elvin-Lewis said; it simply hasn’t been studied.
On a more solid scientific footing, Ms. Beresford-Kroeger is also concerned about the fate of the Northern forests because of overharvest and the destruction of ecosystems. Federal scientists estimate more than 93 percent of old growth has been cut. As forests are fragmented, they dry out, losing wildlife and insect species. As a result, subtle relationships, the nerve system of biodiversity, are breaking down before they have been studied.
“In a walk through old growth forest, there are thousands if not millions of chemicals and their synergistic effects with one another,” she said. “What trees do chemically in the environment is something we’re only beginning to understand.”
Trees also absorb pollutants from the ground, comb particulates from the air and house beneficial insects.
Some studies support a role for trees in human health. A recent study by researchers at Columbia found that children in neighborhoods that are tree-lined have asthma rates a quarter less than in neighborhoods without trees. The Center for Urban Forest Research estimates that each tree removes 1.5 pounds of pollutants from the air. Trees are also used to remove mercury and other pollutants from the ground, something called phytoremediation. And, of course, trees store carbon dioxide, which mitigates global warming.
Dr. Wilson, at Harvard, said that more research into the role of trees in the ecosystem was imperative and that it was alarming how little was known. “We need more research of this kind to use the things we have, such as trees, to their fullest,” he said.
Both Dr. Wilson and Ms. Beresford-Kroeger proposed using stock from old-growth forests for planting new forest in the hopes of taking advantage of good genetics. “There’s an enormous difference between old-growth forests and tree plantations,” Dr. Wilson said.
Ms. Beresford-Kroeger is famous in Canadian horticulture circles for her sprawling gardens, which she maintains with her husband, Christian Kroeger, and are often open to the public. She has 60,000 daffodils, more than 100 rare hellebores from Turkey and Iran and extremely rare peonies from China that are dark brown with red leaves and smell like chocolate.
And she grows more than 100 types of trees, including rare fir trees and Siberian cherry trees, and disease-resistant chestnuts, elms and butternut.
Ms. Beresford-Kroeger recently completed the book “Arboretum Borealis” about the boreal forest in Canada, which cuts across the northern half of the country. Canadian officials have recently announced plans to preserve 55 million acres — roughly half. “Trees are a living miracle,” Ms. Beresford-Kroeger said. “Leaves can take in carbon dioxide and create oxygen. And all creatures must have oxygen.”
Research and Development
British research club to target diet and health
By Stephen Daniells
Food&Drink
12-Aug-2008 - A new partnership is set to deepen scientific understanding of the link between diet and health, and help food companies address obesity, heart disease, and other health problems. The partnership, which will fund £4 million of research projects, brings together three research councils and 15 food and drink companies.
The Diet and Health Research Industry Club (DRINC) is managed and led by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The initial £4 million will be divided amongst nine projects. A second round of projects worth another £3M will be funded in 2009.
"The projects funded by this partnership represent both world-class science, with some of the best diet and health researchers in the UK involved, and relevant science that we think will make a real, beneficial difference to the way we eat and the health of people in the UK,” said Dr Alistair Penman, chair of the DRINC awarding panel.
Three avenues of research
The club will fund research projects in three areas, including how foods can be developed to help fight obesity, understanding the processes that affect our decisions about what food we eat and the portion sizes we take, and investigating the benefits to health of various nutrients found in foods - including fruits, vegetables, cocoa, wine and tea - and how best such nutrients can be efficiently delivered to where they are needed in the body.
"The funding of these projects by DRINC represents an open and transparent collaboration between publicly funded science and the food industry. This work will ensure that the food industry can access the best of UK science to address some of the most important health issues faced by the UK today,” said Dr Doug Yarrow, BBSRC's director of corporate science.
Research highlights
Research at the University of Birmingham is aimed at developing mechanisms for keeping the stomach fuller for longer and increasing satiety signals (feeling of fullness). The research could lead to new foods to tackle obesity by telling the brain to stop eating sooner and preventing snacking between meals.
Researchers at the University of Bristol will examine the psychology behind eating, and investigate how filling we think a food will be before we decide how much of it to eat.
Also of note, will be research carried out at the University of Reading that will examine how flavonols in cocoa are digested and how they have a beneficial effect on human cells.
The nine research projects receiving the initial £4 million include:
• Drivers of eating behaviour during chronic overconsumption.
• Understanding decisions about portion size: The key to acceptable foods that reduce energy intake?
• Defining the gut to brain signalling mechanisms underlying responses to nutrients
• Self structuring foods with slow burn for control of satiety
• Bioactive alginates and obesity
• Dietary activators of antioxidant response element-linked gene expression for good vascular health
• The impact of cocoa processing on flavanol content, absorption and health effects
• Enhancing delivery of minerals using multifunctional carriers
• The effect of dietary bioactive compounds on skin health in humans in vivo
A sweet surprise
Chiropractic Economics, FL - 13 Aug 2008
When some people say they have a “chocolate hormone” as a justification for indulging in the sweet stuff, it turns out they aren’t too far off. Scientists have linked a preference for chocolate to a specific chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests.
The signature reads “chocolate lover” in some people and “indifference” to the popular sweet in others, researchers say.
The study, titled “Human Metabolic Phenotypes Link Directly to Specific Dietary Preferences in Healthy Individuals,” is set to be published in the Nov. 2 issue of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication. The study, conducted by Swiss and British scientists, breaks new ground in a rapidly emerging field that may eventually classify individuals on the basis of their metabolic type, or metabotype, which can ultimately be used to design healthier diets customized to an individual’s needs.
According to Sunil Kochhar, a scientist with Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland, the recent growth of the new field of proteome research, which focuses on characterizing the structure and function of the complete set of proteins produced by our genes, has allowed scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the metabolic changes that occur when foods are digested.
In addition to providing a better understanding of individual metabolic types, the study could also lead to the discovery of additional biomarkers used to identify new health benefits linked to chocolate and other foods, said Kochhar.
Source: Eureka Alert,
Others
Cocoa farmers educated on ways to fight swollen shoot
Modern Ghana, Ghana
By gna
11 Aug 2008
Cocoa farmers have been advised to report promptly any swollen shoot virus disease they detect on their cocoa trees in order to prevent it from spreading.
Mr William Mintah-Wiafe, Tafo District Cocoa Officer, gave the advice when he addressed farmers at an education rally at Akyem Kwamang in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern.
The rally was organised by the of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Control (CSSVC) Unit of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to farmers in all cocoa growing areas country-wide to enable them to easily identify the disease and how to combat it.
Mr Mintah-Wiafe, who represented the Eastern Regional Manager of CSSVC, Mr George Asante, said the government and the COCOBOD were determined to effectively fight the swollen shoot virus, hence the need to vigorously campaign against it. He urged farmers to co-operate in order for the campaign to succeed and stop the virus from becoming a major threat to the survival of cocoa industry.
Mr Mintah-Wiafe said the practice, whereby, some farmers attempted to cut affected parts of cocoa trees to deal with the swollen shoot disease does not stop the disease. He said such practice was dangerous and farmers only deceive themselves since the swollen shoot would eventually destroy their farms and other farms in the area. Mr Mintah-Wiafe said the only means of getting rid of the virus was to cut and uproot the affected trees. He explained that for every hectare of farm, which the CSSVC Unit would have removed as a result of the disease, an initial amount of GH¢172.80 would be paid as compensation. This he added would be followed by GH¢403.20 per hectare when the farm was prepared for replanting. Seedlings would also be supplied but at a cost.
The Kade District Cocoa Officer, Mr Ebenezer Agyen, traced the history of the swollen shoot disease to the 1930 and said the only cure was to get rid of the tree to prevent the disease from spreading.
Mr George Akuffo-Larbi, a Chief Technical Assistant also at the Unit at Kade, advised farmers against the use of child labour on cocoa farms at the expense of their education.
COCOBOD organises forum for cocoa farmers from Asunsu Number One
Modern Ghana, Ghana
By gna
12 Aug 2008
The Dormaa Municipal Office of the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Division of the Ghana COCOBOD, has held a one day forum for 150 cocoa farmers drawn from Asunsu Number One in the area, at Asunsu. Participants, who shared their farming experiences with one another, were also educated on modern practices in the cocoa industry and agro-chemicals and weedicides required for increased yield.
Mr. Emmanuel Nii Arkoh, Municipal Cocoa Officer, sensitised the farmers on the cocoa spraying exercise and the role expected of them to make it successful. He advised cocoa farmers to cut down cocoa trees infested with swollen shoot to prevent its spread. Mr. Arkoh advised them to strictly observe cultural cocoa farming methods before spraying their farms and to ensure that spraying gangs complied with all regulations.
Mr. Augustine Damoah, spraying gang supervisor for the Asunsu Number One area, commended government for its prudent agricultural policies that have boosted cocoa production. He appealed to the COCOBOD to re-open a cocoa buying center at Dormaa-Ahenkro to facilitate the sale of cocoa in the municipality
Ivorian cocoa farmers worry over poor pest control
Reuters Ghana, Ghana
By Ange Aboa
13 Aug 2008
SOUBRE, Ivory Coast, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Rains have allowed cocoa crops in southwestern Ivory Coast to develop well but shortages of pesticides in the wet weather has led to the spread of blackpod disease on some farms, producers said on Wednesday.
Cocoa farmers and exporters in the southwest of the world's top producer say the heavy rain that fell in May and June points to a strong main crop for the 2008/9 season, which starts in October, with pods already ripening and looking large. But they say a lack of pesticide in the humid zones near Soubre has allowed the spread of black pod disease and capsids -- insects which damage cocoa pods. If not addressed in the coming weeks, the lack of treatment would lead to a reduction in the second half of the main crop from the middle of December onwards to the end of the main crop season on March 31.
Ivory Coast is now winding up the April-September mid crop of the 2007/8 season but the industry is focusing far more on the upcoming harvest. "There is no need for concern about the size of the main crop because the first pods have come out and ... there is reason to hope for a fairly good harvest," said an exporter based in the port town of San Pedro. Along the road from Yabayo to Issia, producers were satisfied with the development of their young crops, saying volumes should be good due to favourable weather.
The exporter acknowledged the presence of black pod, especially on the area's other cocoa route, which links the coastal town of Sassandra and Gueyo to the north, but pointed out that black pod was a seasonal phenomenon and said this year was not particularly worse than usual. The region accounts for roughly a quarter of Ivory Coast's annual harvest of 1.2-1.4 million tonnes, which is the world's biggest.
Farmers in the humid areas said their crops should be treated three or four times each season but, in some cases, had not been treated for three years. "There are serious treatment problems in the cocoa fields here. We don't have enough pesticides and the black pod disease, which we didn't have before is spreading each year," said farmer Gustave Kobenan at Tohui, 60 kilometres (38 miles) from Soubre.
Kobenan said the lack of pesticides meant he had only treated half of his six hectares and, showing a pod with the disease, was now seeing the affects. "That means the pod is lost," he said. "If you treat the fields properly it will go away immediately but we've not been able to afford (to do this) for a long time now." Some farmers try to mix in spoiled beans with healthy ones to increase volumes, affecting the quality of the cocoa.
One exporter acknowledged the problem but said it was difficult to say how much of an impact it would have and that it was something that had to be prevented up country as it would be too late once the beans reached the ports for shipping.
Ivorian ministers to testify in cocoa graft case
Reuters South Africa, South Africa
15 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Five Ivorian ministers will be interviewed as witnesses as part of an anti-corruption crackdown in the world's biggest cocoa grower, the government said Thursday. More than a dozen top industry officials, including the then head of the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC), were arrested in June in a crackdown on graft ordered by President Laurent Gbagbo. Those accused have since claimed their purchases of property and furniture were authorised by the ministry of agriculture, and the ministry of economy and finance.
Ministers Paul Antoine Bohoun Bouabre, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Alphonse Douati, Djedje Danon, and Charles Koffi Diby have now been called upon to give evidence about these claims. "The government insists that these five members of government are not accused, but will be heard simply to clarify, through their witness statements, the ongoing investigations," official spokesman Amadou Kone said.
Gbagbo, who is widely expected to seek another term in post-war elections scheduled for November 30, has said the investigation would lead to prosecutions and jail terms for those found guilty.
Cocoa training of agric officers ends in Kumasi
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Ghana
16, August, 2008
The second phase of a training workshop for 24 facilitators and six Agricultural Extension Officers in farmer-field schools in cocoa production, has taken place in Kumasi. The facilitators were from the Amansie West District of Ashanti. The workshop was organised by the Millennium Villages Project. The Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of the Millennium Villages Project, Isaac Kankam Boadu, said, both the first and the second phases of the training were to enhance the technical expertise of participants and also build their capacity to make informal decisions in crop management.
He said, the enthusiasm and participation shown by the farmers demonstrate the effectiveness of the farmer field school concept in transferring technologies to farmers as well as the adoption of good agricultural practices such as timely brushing of farms, pruning and fertilization by farmers which has increased yields. The Master Trainer of the Sustainable Free Crop Programme, Sylvanus Agordoku urged the participants to put what they have learnt into practice for the benefit of their communities.
The Regional Director of Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr. George Opoku said measures such as the cocoa-hi-tech and Disease and Pest Control Programme are being implemented to increase cocoa production to help meet the target of 1m tons per annum by 2010. The Manager of the Bonsaase Cluster and team leader of the Millennium Villages Project, Samuel Afram commended the Sustainable Tree Crops Programme, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana and Family Health International for their collaboration and promised his outfit’s support to help eradicate poverty in the district. The meeting was to review the activities of partners to ensure effective implementation of their activities.
RPT-Ivory Coast's West safer, fear of militia lingers
Fri Aug 15, 2008
By Ange Aboa
DUEKOUE, Ivory Coast, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Security in the volatile west of Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, has improved ahead of elections due in November, but local people still fear the hidden presence of armed militiamen.
The polls should complete a peace process after a 2002-2003 civil war split the West African country, and cocoa farmers working in western areas that saw some of the worst fighting are now concentrating on getting the most from the next harvest. "Everything is going well for the moment, there's no problem with security, killing, or farmers from Burkina Faso and the north of Ivory Coast disappearing like there was two years ago. Then tensions were higher because of the war," said Alidou Kone, a merchant in Pinhou, 15 km from Duekoue.
Despite some attacks by armed highwaymen, security has been noticeably better for foreign cocoa workers as well as local farmers and merchants since a military buffer zone was dismantled last year, people working in the industry said. "Since last July things have been calm and producers are working without a problem," Kone said.
Militiamen who in late 2002 joined forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo are no longer operating openly, but their hidden presence in a region which suffered violent atrocities during the war is feared. Most have not yet been disarmed. "What frightens everyone here is the militia. They are responsible for murders, violence, stealing, and attacks on lorries during the cocoa harvest becuase they've nothing to do," said Moustapha Kante, a merchant based in Fengolo, 7 km (4 miles) north of Duekoue.
Fengolo is populated largely by northerners and people from Burkina Faso, known as Burkinabes.
People here say disarming the militia is paramount, as polls are due to coincide with a key period in the coffee and cocoa production seasons, and any disruption will be keenly felt. "If they are disarmed before the elections, that would resolve the situation, but if not it could heat up in Duekoue because they don't accept outsiders and they are always armed," Kante said.
ELECTIONS IN DOUBT?
Electoral observers say the presence of gunmen is one of several factors that make Ivory Coast unlikely to be able to hold polls as planned. Voters must be identified, electoral lists published and fighters disarmed to enable a free poll and ensure the losers do not challenge the results, Charles Yaovi Djrekpo, resident coordinator for the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute, told Reuters last week.
Farmers, meanwhile, are more concerned about their harvest. The six-month main cocoa crop opens in October. Cocoa and coffee farms in the west, largely controlled by the Burkinabe and migrants from the north of Ivory Coast, are expected to produce a good crop, and prices on world markets are hovering just below multi-year highs.
Cocoa pod growth has improved because chemical treatments have been more freely available since the lifting of roadblocks manned by government forces, farmers say. "We think the harvest will start at the end of the month. We hope we will produce more than last year, that's what people are thinking about here," said trader Kante. "Nobody's interested in politics for the moment."
Eco-labels on food can cook up confusion
Terms touting environmental friendliness of food need to be explained
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY - 12 Aug 2008
Karen Miltner
We want our food choices to nourish and sustain our bodies. But increasingly, consumers are looking for foods produced in ways that are also good for the Earth. Consequently, farmers, producers and food manufacturers want to communicate these eco-friendlier growing practices so that consumers can decide which products are aligned with their environmental philosophies and whether these products' higher prices are worth it.
Organic is the benchmark of eco-labels, with the federal government backing its definitions, standards and verification process since 2002. But it is by far not alone. Eco-label terms, seals or logos — grass-fed, free-range, bird-friendly and beyond — are showing up more frequently in all food categories.
"Green is the new fad on a lot of levels," says Urvashi Rangan, director of the Greener Choices program at Consumer Reports magazine. "As people grow more conscious about their personal health, you inevitably get to the environment."
Some of these terms have government rules or guidelines prescribing their use. Others are certified by private third-party companies or organizations that have detailed criteria and standards that must be met by the producer. And some have very little meaning at all, except for what the manufacturer or producer assigns to it. "There are a lot of green traps out there amidst companies and labels that are doing the right thing," Rangan says.
One misleading and overused eco-term is "natural." For meat and poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition only means that no artificial flavoring, color ingredients, chemical preservatives or artificial or synthetic ingredients were used and the meat and poultry was minimally processed. Beyond those parameters, marketers for other products can use the word however they see fit.
Rangan's advice is to seek out eco-labels that are backed by clear standards and criteria and are verified either by third-party agencies or independent organizations. The more specific the claim, the better. In the case where labels don't exist, such as at farmers markets and farm stands, ask a lot of questions.
Here we introduce some of the more commonly seen eco-label terms and logos, and explain what they mean.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Organic: Since 2002, anything bearing the USDA organic symbol means the food has been produced without conventional pesticides and fertilizers. Antibiotics, growth hormones, sewage sludge, irradiation, animal byproducts and genetically modified ingredients are also banned. Foods with the USDA organic logo must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifier. Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, considers organic standards "rigorous and (they) add considerable value to conventional food production." Small producers who sell less than $5,000 a year can label food products organic without certification as long as they follow federal criteria, which may be the case with small family farms selling at local markets.
Increasingly, products that are certified organic will add eco-claims already covered under certification, such as "non-GMO" or "produced without dangerous pesticides."
"These statements do not make the product any more organic than the competing organic product next to it that does not make the claim," Steve Zoller, a consultant in Mount Morris, Livingston County, who works with food companies on label compliance, writes in an e-mail.
There are, however, labeling rules for levels of organic content. A product labeled "100 percent organic" must be just that; "organic" must have at least 95 percent organic ingredients, and "made with organic ingredients" must contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients.
The Farmer's Pledge: Because most farms must be certified in order to label their food organic, those who forego certification must find a creative way to convey how their food is produced.
In 2003, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York introduced The Farmer's Pledge. The pledge outlines organic farming methods as well as a farming philosophy that supporters say go above and beyond standards set by U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program.
You are most likely to see this eco-label at area farmers markets and farm stands.
Biodynamic: Demeter Biodynamic is a nongovernmental certified farming program that advocates say goes beyond organic in its strict adherence to weed and pest management, crop rotation and composting. The biodynamic farming movement goes back to the 1920s and also incorporates spiritual elements, such as following a harvest schedule set by moon cycles. Consumers Union calls Demeter Biodynamic "a highly meaningful sustainable agriculture label."
No genetic engineering: Since so many processed foods contain soy or corn in some capacity, it's likely that you are already eating genetically modified organisms without knowing it. There is no law requiring genetically modified foods to be labeled as such, much to the chagrin of anti-GMO activists. The Food and Drug Administration frowns on usage such as GMO-free, arguing that testing is the only way to guarantee no traces of genetically altered material. Instead, you see claims such as "Made with no genetically engineered ingredients."
If you want to avoid GMOs, buy certified organic or other certified labels that ban genetically modified ingredients.
COFFEE, TEA, CHOCOLATE
Fair Trade Certified: The Fair Trade label is first and foremost a social justice signifier ensuring that growers of coffee, tea, chocolate, tropical fruits, rice, sugar and other foods receive a fair price, work under fair conditions and have community-building opportunities. Certified growers are prohibited from using GMOs, must limit the use of the most harmful chemical inputs and are encouraged to farm sustainably to protect soil, water and farmworkers' health. Like certified organic, Fair Trade has become a globally significant eco-label, with Starbucks, Target, Wal-Mart and other international retailers buying significant quantities of certified product.
Bird Friendly: The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's Bird Friendly program certifies coffee growers whose shade management practices protect bird habitat in tropical regions.
Rainforest Alliance Certified: This certification program follows rules set by the Sustainable Agriculture Network geared toward promoting sound pest management for coffee, chocolate, bananas and other crops; wildlife conservation; and fair labor practices.
SEAFOOD
The seafood industry faces many environmental challenges, from overfishing, bycatch and habitat destruction to disease, pollution and escapes associated with certain types of aquaculture. In addition to the following certification and education programs, many fisheries, manufacturers, restaurants and retailers have their own sustainability policies and standards. Marine Stewardship Council: The Marine Stewardship Council is a nonprofit organization that certifies fisheries, manufacturers and retailers. Its label appears on fresh, frozen and canned products. The MSC certification program certifies fisheries from around the globe that keep sustainable stocks and put into practice environmentally sound management techniques.
Although it does not display the certification, Wegmans sells MSC-certified sea bass, wild-caught salmon, halibut, Pacific cod and western Australian lobster tails, says spokeswoman Jeanne Colleluori. The chain received MSC certification last year.
Dolphin-safe: There is a federal definition for the dolphin-safe label, and in some cases, fishing practices are verified by an independent organization, but the term can appear on canned tuna labels without any certification or agency oversight.
Seafood Watch: The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch is not a certification program, but a consumer-targeted education campaign that rates the eco-friendliness of different types of farmed and wild-caught seafood and explains the impact of each. Visit .
MEATS, POULTRY, EGGS, DAIRY
Grass-fed: Grass-fed animals used for meat and dairy products require fewer commercial fertilizers, antibiotics and fuel than traditional livestock agriculture. If good practices are followed, grass-fed meat farming also restores pasture ecosystems and prevents soil erosion. Grass-fed meats are generally leaner and have higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients, proponents say.
The tricky thing about grass-fed claims that appear on beef and other meats is that even cattle that are fattened on grain in feedlots start out the first year eating grass. Some producers would still attach the grass-fed claim.
The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Services came out with a new voluntary standard for grass-fed last fall that requires meats labeled grass-fed to have only grass and forage diet through its lifetime, with the exception of milk consumed before the animals are weaned. It also calls for animals to have pasture access during the growing season. Products that carry the "USDA Process Verified" shield along with the "U.S. Grassfed" claim have been inspected and verified to meet these federal standards.
Pasture-raised, pastured: This is a general term used for meats, eggs and dairy products from animals that are raised entirely or in part on pasture. To really know what pasture-raised means, you must ask the producer.
No hormones: If you see terms like these on pork or poultry products, don't give the producer any special kudos, as the USDA already forbids added hormones in pork and poultry production. That is not the case with beef and dairy, where hormones can be administered. Organic and Biodynamic certifications already ensure no added hormones.
ANIMAL WELFARE
Certified Humane Raised and Handled: Meats, poultry, dairy products and eggs that earn this certification have been inspected and verified to ensure that animals are treated in a humane manner from birth to slaughter.
Free-range, free-roaming, cage-free: Free-range and free-roaming are extremely vague terms applied mostly to eggs and poultry (but sometimes also to meats) that have little meaning until you ask the producer. According to the USDA, free-range chickens must have access to the outdoors, but the agency does not say how much. It could be the birds are raised mostly on pasture, or it could be the barn door is left open for 10 minutes a day. The USDA definition does not apply to eggs.
Certified Vegan: This certified logo, overseen by the Vegan Awareness Foundation (also known as Vegan Action), is seen on a variety of processed foods as well as personal hygiene and household cleaning products. Qualified products do not include animal ingredients or byproducts and have not been tested on animals. The program does not test or monitor manufacturers, but it requires written statements about their practices.
All vegan, 100 percent vegan, vegan: These are general terms that imply the product was not derived from animals and, perhaps, did not include animal testing, but there is no standard definition.
Ivorian ministers to testify in cocoa graft case
Reuters, Thursday August 14 2008
ABIDJAN, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Five Ivorian ministers will be interviewed as witnesses as part of an anti-corruption crackdown in the world's biggest cocoa grower, the government said Thursday. More than a dozen top industry officials, including the then head of the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC), were arrested in June in a crackdown on graft ordered by President Laurent Gbagbo. Those accused have since claimed their purchases of property and furniture were authorised by the ministry of agriculture, and the ministry of economy and finance.
Ministers Paul Antoine Bohoun Bouabre, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Alphonse Douati, Djedje Danon, and Charles Koffi Diby have now been called upon to give evidence about these claims. "The government insists that these five members of government are not accused, but will be heard simply to clarify, through their witness statements, the ongoing investigations," official spokesman Amadou Kone said.
Gbagbo, who is widely expected to seek another term in post-war elections scheduled for Nov. 30, has said the investigation would lead to prosecutions and jail terms for those found guilty.
80% of Lawyers Living on Biscuits and Chocolate
The Firm, UK - 11 Aug 2008
Research published this week has concluded that solicitors are among the worst nourished professions in the country, with almost 80% of lawyers stating they have gone a whole day without eating a single meal, surviving on bars of chocolate and biscuits instead.
And almost a quarter of the lawyers questioned as part of a survey of 2000 respondents said they eat sweets instead of a proper breakfast, over three times the national average. Lawyers are also twice as likely to snack on the go – including in the gym.
Nutritionist Fiona Hunter says: ‘’It’s extremely worrying to find that so many people are relying on a diet of crisps and chocolate to get them through the day. Sugary and high fat snacks are meant to be treats, to be enjoyed alongside healthy, balanced meals but it seems many busy Brits are choosing these foods because they haven’t got time to cook a proper meal."
‘’Most nutritionists agree that the best way to balance blood sugar levels is to eat three small meals plus a couple of healthy snacks such as fruit, yogurt, meat or cheese in between.
“If you are going to snack, it’s important to snack sensibly and choose foods that contribute vitamins and minerals to the diet rather than just calories.
The research was undertaken by a snack food company.
Even In These Hard Times, Candy Is Dandy
A NIBBLE OR A BITE What’s New In Dining
August 17, 2008 —Associated Press
Hartford Courant, United States - 16 Aug 2008
Consumers are cutting back, skipping the latte at Starbucks and going back to coupons to keep the food bill down. But even in this economy, candy is holding its own. Americans bought billions, in fact $29 billion worth of the stuff in 2007, according to the National Confectioners Association. That's about a 3 percent increase from the previous year.
That sweet tooth is a big reason many experts say the candy business is likely to fare better than other nonessentials in these economically trying times, possibly even "recession proof."
As vices go, candy is still relatively cheap — perhaps explaining Hershey's across-the-board price increase announced Friday — and can go a long way in psychologically easing the pain at the pump.
Candy's reputation for getting people through tough times is long-standing. During the Great Depression a nickel chocolate bar was sustenance. Some had names such as "Chicken Dinner."
"Candy bars, during the Depression, were really America's fast food," says Steve Almond, author of "Candyfreak," a book that examines the economic history and allure of chocolate.
UN finances '1,000 microprojects' for ex-fighters in I.Coast
AFP - 16 Aug 2008
ABIDJAN (AFP) — The United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast said Saturday its will finance "1,000 microprojects" to rehabilitate the country's ex-fighters. The ONUCI programme aims to create "a stable security environment" ahead of the country's presidential election on November 30, which is to be the culmination of the Ivory Coast peace process.
The programme was officially launched Friday by the UN special representative to Ivory Coast, Choi Young-jin, in the ex-rebel New Forces (FN) stronghold of Bouake. "It (the project) aims to create a stable security environment for free and transparent elections by re-introducing ex-fighters socially and economically back into their old communities," an ONUCI statement said.
The projects will involve sectors such as agriculture, farming, fishing, construction and restoration. A team linked to the ONUCI and the National Reinsertion and Community Rehabilitation Programme (PNRRC) will then continue the programme after it has been rolled out across the country, the statement said.
On August 5, the PNRRC chairman, Daniel Ouattara, estimated that the programme, which will be partly financed by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, will cost 44.4 billion CFA francs (67.7 million euros). "The PNRRC is no longer struggling financially," trumpeted Ouattara, while adding that 32,300 ex-FN rebel fighters are involved in the programme, which is a key part of the country's peace-process.
On May 2, the former FN rebel group relaunched a programme to disarm 36,000 of its troops. It marked the first stage in the disarmament process that is part of the March 2007 peace deal -- partly brokered by Burkina Faso -- between the FN rebels and Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. Under the Ouagadougou peace accord, 10,000 rebel soldiers will be integrated into the regular army and the remaining 26,000 will be demobilised before the November election.
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, plummeted into crisis in 2002 when a failed coup by FN rebels sliced the country in half. A new government was installed earlier this year with Gbagbo sharing power with former FN rebel chief Guillaume Soro serving as prime minister.
November's presidential election, initially announced for October 2005 when Gbagbo's term was to end, has been pushed back several times.
Oil Cannot Solve Our Problems
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Peace fm Online, Ghana - 12 Aug 2008
Ever since Ghana announced to the world that it has hit oil in commercial quantities, our media landscape has been awash with news about oil and what the future holds for Ghana. Hardly a day passes without one reading about something connected to oil in our newspapers. To make matters worse, our Ministers and other government officials have also been making public statements about the benefits we are going to derive from oil. They have made the discovery of oil to appear as if it is the magic wand that would solve all the problems of the country.
As a result, a picture is being painted that the oil discovery is going to be the saviour of all our economic woes. As we noted in this column sometime last year, we believe that this is where danger lies for the nation. We at The Chronicle believe that oil cannot solve all the problems confronting the economy. Indeed, if it were so, countries such like Angola, Nigeria and Gabon, just to mention few, would have had their economies at par with Developed countries such as the United States, Canada and Germany, among others.
For us, it would be suicidal for government officials and individuals, including Journalists who mis-educate Ghanaians to believe that oil is the nation’s Saviour and neglecting other sectors of the economy. For instance, the economy of Ghana has survived for many years through the support of agriculture and gold. One can therefore imagine the sort of dislocation that the economy will experience if all efforts, in the form of capital and human resources, are diverted to the new found oil industry.
The Chronicle, however, congratulates the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for not allowing itself to be caught in the euphoria of the oil find, but has decided to put measures in place to ensure mass production of the cash crop. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the COCOBOD, Mr. Isaac Osei was quoted by the Graphic as saying that his outfit was poised to increase our cocoa to one million tonnes within the next two years.
In furtherance of this, he said COCOBOD has instituted a number of policy measures, which include mass spraying of cocoa farms and providing incentives for farmers to motivate them to put in their maximum effort for the country to achieve this set target. Chronicle thinks COCOBOD has set a good example that must be emulated by those who handle other sectors of the economy. Ghana can maximise profits from oil only if we give other sectors equal attention, as COCOBOD has started doing. We once again wish to caution that we must not all rush to embrace the oil industry, to the neglect of our cocoa, timber and other sectors. Otherwise, it will be to our own peril.
TIT BITS
(Source: Business Recorder – )
US MIDDAY: coffee and cocoa climb
NEW YORK (August 13, 2008): Arabica coffee and cocoa futures trading on ICE Futures US turned higher in early trade Tuesday, with a boost from a turn-around in outside markets as the dollar fell, traders said. December was up 2.70 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $1.425 per lb by 9:13 am EDT (1313 GMT), trading between $1.3845 and $1.44.
London coffee and cocoa climb
LONDON (August 13, 2008): Arabica coffee and cocoa futures climbed as the dollar turned weaker on Tuesday, but dealers saw downside risk in sugar. ICE December arabicas were up 2.5 cents or 1.8 percent to $1.4320 a lb at 1443 GMT, while ICE cocoa was up $22 or 0.8 percent to $2,711 a tonne. "The softs have mainly just been playing catch-up with anything that has been happening in the (commodities) complex at large," said Lars Steffensen of commodities fund Ebullio Capital Management.
US MIDDAY: coffee down, cocoa little changed
NEW YORK (August 14, 2008): Arabica coffee on ICE Futures US fell in early trade Wednesday in the face of a stronger US dollar, while cocoa was little changed as position rolling out of the front month continued, traders said. December coffee was down 1.55 cents at $1.398 per lb by 9:13 am EDT (1313 GMT), trading from $1.3935 and $1.418.
London robustas plummet
LONDON (August 14, 2008): Coffee futures fell sharply on fund selling influenced by a stronger dollar on Wednesday, while sugar and cocoa consolidated in a narrow range awaiting new leads to set a fresh direction. Dealers said sell stops were triggered at around $2,250 in London November robustas, and industry buyers took advantage of the drop with strong buying interest seen at around $2,211 and $2,200.
US MIDDAY: coffee down, cocoa up
NEW YORK (August 15, 2008): Arabica coffee trading on ICE Futures US turned lower in early trade Thursday, in heavy position rolling out of the September contract ahead of first notice day next week, while chart-based dealings pushed cocoa up, traders said. December was down 0.35 cent at $1.391 per lb by 9:15 am EDT (1315 GMT), trading from $1.3855 and $1.408. December volume 3,744 lots by 9:16 am.
Soft commodity futures fall
LONDON (August 16, 2008): Soft commodity futures fell along with the wider commodity complex on Friday as evidence mounted that slowing economic growth was hitting global demand. Fund an investor selling pushed London robusta coffee, cocoa and sugar futures lower, as the dollar gained on gloomy economic data from Europe. "It's across the board (selling)," said Lars Steffensen, managing director of London-based commodities fund Ebullio Capital Management.
US MIDDAY: coffee, cocoa down
NEW YORK (August 16, 2008): Arabica coffee on ICE Futures US dropped 2 percent Friday amid selling related to contract rollover and as a stronger dollar prompted a widespread sell-off in commodities, while sell-stops and long liquidation sent cocoa lower, traders said. [pic]
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