Market

La Doria, a leading private-label producer of tomato derivatives, ready sauces, legumes and fruit juices and drinks, posted consolidated revenues of €688 million in 2018, 2.8% up on the previous year’s €669.1 million.

These figures reflect 6% annual growth in 2018 and a total 31% growth over the period 2013-2018. Between 2013 and 2018 the growth in dog food sales by value was similar to that of the pet care sector as a whole at 6% per year, while growth in volume was smaller (1.5% per year).

The Elesa group, a supplier of standard components for the mechanical industry, machines and industrial equipment, recently took part in the exhibition MECSPE (Parma, 28-30 March 2019) where it displayed two new knobs that won the international IF Design Award and RED DOT Design Award for industrial design.

Austrian plastic packaging solutions provider ALPLA and Swedish paper packaging materials and solutions supplier BillerudKorsnäs have announced the launch of a new joint venture in the Danish paper bottle company ecoXpac.

Candia Italia, the Italian subsidiary of Sodiaal, one of France’s leading dairy cooperatives (the third largest European and fifth largest world milk producer), posted sales of 112 million litres of milk in 2018, including 22 million litres under the Candia brand name, 60 million litres under private labels and 30 million litres in the low-price segment.

UK-based dairy company Lancashire Farm Dairies, a company specialising in the production of 100% British milk yogurt, has opened a new 6,500 square-metre facility in Rochdale, Greater Manchester which will double the amount of milk the dairy can process.

Danone Manifesto Ventures (Danone group) has acquired a stake in Harmless Harvest, a US firm that sells fresh and organic coconut water produced using an exclusive microfiltration process.

Givaudan, a leading Swiss group in the flavours and fragrances sector, has officially opened a new flavours manufacturing facility in Pune, India.

From 1 January 2019, the COIM group has started the production of inks for flexible packaging under brand name Coiminks

GAC - Grupo Alimentario Citrus, a Spanish agri-food company operating in the field of fresh produce, has acquired Florette Italia (Novara) and the Swiss company Josef Müller (Canton of Zug), both specialising in ready-prepared salads.

Ferrero has beaten off a rival bid from the US firm Hostess Brands to acquire Kellogg Company’s iconic cookie, fruit and fruit-flavoured snack, ice cream cone and pie crust businesses.

As the final step in a €5 million issuance programme, TSW Industries (Asti), a company that designs and builds packaging plant and machinery for food (particularly confectionery and chocolate) and other fast-moving consumer goods, has issued €2 million of mini-bonds fully subscribed by the fund Anthilia BIT 3 and listed on the ExtraMotPro trading platform.

US multinational Kraft Heinz is preparing to sell the Italian assets of Plasmon, the well-known brand of baby biscuits produced in the plant in Latina in the Lazio region.

Heineken has officially opened its first brewery in Mozambique in a ceremony attended by the country’s President Filipe Nyusi. The facility will produce the new Txilar brand beer using locally grown maize as well as other international brands such as Heineken, Amstel, Sagres and Strongbow.

Illy Group, an international brand operating in the food and beverage sector, has diversified into the premium chocolate segment with the acquisition of the well-known British brand Prestat, inventor of truffles and supplier to the British royal family.

In 2018 the United States imported $6.2 billion (around €5.5 billion) worth of wine, an increase of 4.9% compared to the previous year.

Italian agri-food exports to China set another all-time record in 2018 with sales of €450 million, a 260% increase over the last 10 years.

Amazon (revenue of $232.9 billion in 2018) is set to diversify into the food retail market.

Orsero (Savona, Italy), one of Europe’s largest distributors of fresh fruit and vegetables listed on the Aim Italia segment of the Milan Stock Exchange, has signed a €10 million agreement to acquire Fruttica, a French importer and wholesale distributor of fruit and vegetables, mainly of Italian origin.

Major Italian retailers reported an uptick in beer sales in terms of both value (+2.7%) and volumes (+1.7%) in the year from November 2017 to November 2018.