Not everyone was happy that a deal was struck within the EU this week on how to compensate farmers affected by Europe’s E. coli outbreak, with Spanish farmers demanding more after being particularly hit by the scandal. Elsewhere, commodity prices – both in the future and now – remained a subject of discussion, while retail analysts looked at Tesco‘s first-quarter sales numbers and at the future for Metro Group’s Makro operations in the UK.
“The mismanagement of the E. coli crisis by European and German authorities is costing Spanish farmers their livelihoods. The produce [industry] should be compensated for all losses – not just half. This is insufficient” – a spokesperson for Spanish fresh produce federation FEPEX calls on Spain to appeal against the EU’s compensation package for farmers hit by the E. coli outbreak.
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“In the current market context, price volatility could remain a feature of agricultural markets, and coherent policies are required to both reduce volatility and limit its negative impacts. The key solution to the problem will be boosting investment in agriculture and reinforcing rural development in developing countries, where 98% of the hungry people live today and where population is expected to increase by 47% over the next decades” – Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food & Agriculture Organisation, wants action to make food prices less volatile in the years ahead.
“One of the things that customers have long since learnt is that you can choose your own level of inflation. If one particular meat is relatively expensive, they [consumers] will switch out of it” – Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King believes UK consumers can shop around to lessen the impact of food inflation on their shopping bills.
“We continue to see the main focus being on the recovery of the UK operations and a return to volume growth within core grocery formats. On that basis we remain disappointed in Q1” – MF Global analyst Mike Dennis noted Tesco’s international growth in its first quarter but said the retailer still has work to do in its domestic market.
“If after many management changes, the profit trends are not acceptable, a sale is a far better option and in some case a sale for a very low price would at least remove a loss off of Metro’s group P&L” – RBS retail analyst Justin Scarborough sees the benefit to Metro Group of offloading the German retailer’s Makro operations in the UK.
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By GlobalData“Woolworths did not approach this tender process to recoup the cost of the price cut on private-label milk” – a spokesperson for Australia’s largest retailer insisted its price war with Coles was not behind the move to switch suppliers in New South Wales.
“The acquisition will strengthen our position in the French own-label market and we’re also excited by the potential to improve and grow our branded portfolio” –James Lambert, chief executive of R&R Ice Cream, sets out why the UK company is in talks to buy the ice cream division of French firm Maison Boncolac.
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“This year’s earnings far exceeded those of our last record year and demonstrated an important shift in the key drivers of our business model toward consumer packaged meats” – Smithfield Foods president and CEO Larry Pope reflects on a year in which the US meat processor made its first profit since 2008.
“We are very optimistic about the opportunities in Indonesia. Indonesia has a large, progressive population and the economic environment is very conducive for growth” – Frits van Dijk, director of Nestle’s operations in Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Middle East, explains why the company has invested another US$100m in Indonesia.
